How to orbital dock? How do make it easier? Any tips?

[MyASASisOnFire]

I've been trying to build a station at about 150km orbit.

The frustration of trying to get anything to dock to anything else in space is making me cry...

This is basically me playing KSP:

My problem is thus: anything larger than the A1 orbiter, and docking is too difficult for me with standard controls and cameras. I zip back and forth, miss my approach, bump into solar panels, go careening off into nowhere, realign myself, forget I'm upside down and shoot off in the wrong direction, and I end up giving up, letting out a frustrated yell, and firing my station's new fuel and science block right through the middle of the command module just to be petulant.

Is there any way of locking the camera to the vehicle? Or switching to a different camera control method? I'd probably find it easier if I knew where my damn ships are in relation to one another, and that's something I can't decipher when the camera is totally under my control.

PS. I watched Scott Manley's video on orbital docking, but I didn't understand half of it and his techniques don't really work for me... and I discovered that when you're trying to plug four full fuel tanks into your station, it behaves very differently from a dinky little one-man orbiter.

Ta~

[Johnno]

http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Key_Bindings (V for camera modes)

As for docking, there's a tutorials section, you can use the forum search (docking is one of the most asked about subjects) and you can try youtube by searching for 'kerbal docking' or somesuch.

Everyone has their own preferences and there's a gazillion threads on docking, there's no need to rehash all of it twice a week (there's another thread asking for docking help still on page 1 of How To).

[Mr Shifty]

I did a few RCS dockings, proved to myself I could do it, and haven't gone back to it since. I use the MechJeb Smart A.S.S. trick:

1) Get your ships close to each other (100 meters or less.)

2) Kill all relative velocity.

3) Have each ship target the other's docking port.

4) Use Smart A.S.S. on both ships to point the ship toward target.

5) On one of the ships accelerate toward target.

Viola! Automatic docking and you still get most of the feel of doing it by hand.

[Corw]

Try this tutorial.

The main point is to position your docking port properly so that you can fly as much as possible with assistance of instruments (navball)

[capi3101]

Hit the V key to change the camera mode. Most folks prefer chase mode for docking maneuvers. Didn't know that trick until just the other day my own self.

Other that that, this is all I can offer...

Close to Rendezvous General Procedure: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/40653-How-to-synchronize-an-orbit-with-another-ship?p=522873&viewfull=1#post522873

Actual Docking General Procedure: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/40645-Help-With-Rendezvous?p=522811&viewfull=1#post522811

[SleepingDragon]

Practice, practice, practice. It is hard at first, but later on you will be able to dock any unbalanced crap provided you have enough rcs fuel.

[Sathurn]

here my best advice.

NAVBALL, NAVBALL, NAVBALL!

I get close, point ship at target, switch ships and repeat. Now both port are, lined up and pointed at each. Now using the hnjikl keys keep them lined up. Do not rotate. If drifting off course adjust your pro-grade marker (target) using iklj so than you start to drift back.

and then it is a matter of looking at the NAVBALL.

[Kosmo-not]

here my best advice.

NAVBALL, NAVBALL, NAVBALL!

I get close, point ship at target, switch ships and repeat. Now both port are, lined up and pointed at each. Now using the hnjikl keys keep them lined up. Do not rotate. If drifting off course adjust your pro-grade marker (target) using iklj so than you start to drift back.

and then it is a matter of looking at the NAVBALL.

^^^ this. That is the easiest way to do it, and I'm surprised that hardly anyone does it (not even Scott Manley does this).

[bobcook]

here my best advice.

NAVBALL, NAVBALL, NAVBALL!

I get close, point ship at target, switch ships and repeat. Now both port are, lined up and pointed at each. Now using the hnjikl keys keep them lined up. Do not rotate. If drifting off course adjust your pro-grade marker (target) using iklj so than you start to drift back.

and then it is a matter of looking at the NAVBALL.

^^^ this. That is the easiest way to do it, and I'm surprised that hardly anyone does it (not even Scott Manley does this).

Might not be obvious, but I think you need to have SAS enabled to make this work. And it works very well for me. I've docked many things this way.

My first docking (and several more after that for more practice) was using two identical rockets topped with Mk3 capsules and docking ports. My first Kerbin rendezvous. That got me to be very comfortable with docking. Then I started docking bigger things, including station components with multiple docking ports. Basically the same process, just takes a lot of patience and practice.

For larger things, I find that heavier objects are easier to dock because they wobble less. And also heavy things react less to subtle RCS bursts.

Edited July 20, 2013 by bobcook

[Torch]

So here is my take, the purist will say "NO MODS", I say, "Bunk". For docking help, I highly recommend Romfarer's Lazor System Mod available here: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/lazor-system/

Let's face it, take your pick of space programs, NASA, ESA, JSL, RSFSP, they all use the most advanced systems available, and that includes a docking cam. That is one of the modules available in the above listed mod. Can I dock without it, of course, you need to understand the mechanics of docking before any of this will make any sense at all. So here is what I do, and some screen shots to illustrate.

Docking is a matter of lining your ships docking port up with a targets docking port. It is certainly not possible to always just "target the port, switch ships and target again" in order to achieve a dock. I can't just "spin" my station around to align to a ships docking port, nay, MOVE the ship to align with the stations port. Here is where the mod really shines.

Basically, during a docking operation, you have to do 3 things:

1. align your docking port to...

2. the target docking port, and ...

3. kill any drift between the two.

In the mod, you have 3 cross hairs:

1. The solid white cross represents the center of your ships docking port

2. The dashed cross represents the center of the target docking port

3. The red cross represents the speed and direction at which the docking parts are moving relative to each other.

Here is a screenie of the docking cam, when things are slightly misalligned:

and here is a screenie of the docking I was doing:

enjoy!!

[CodatheSpaceFox]

Without mods, or a successful docking without mechjeb myself. I've been pushing myself closer to coming up with ideas to make it easier in Vanilla.

I can already say that .21 is going to make it infinitely easier with the rebalanced RCS and SAS, but just as well, the navball is a great too on it's own but I found it needs help.

Without a vector marking rotation, it does make it pretty damn hard to size up your ship VS the guidance, especially which way is "up" in your navball. I've collected on a few little tips that I have turned into habit. Even though I've never actually docked anything myself yet, but from experience of other uses, they size up pretty well.

Firstly, Batteries. about 3 radial batteries with the green lights facing with your docking port on a ship makes it very easy to locate, or even one works just as well to show which way is considered the upward portion of the docking port, to show your ship's orientation in that respect. Have to thank Scott Manley for that one.

Second, if your ship is going to dock, make it readily able. Since I work with SSTOs a lot, I try to avoid the tuck in port, since I always worry it's going to be a pain to line up, and instead I try to put the port on the front or back of the ship, that way I already am aware of my rotation in respect to it, and don't need to fumble with it. Again, never managed in practice, but all in all I can at least hit a satellite dead on with a rear facing port for practice.

Again, depending on the ship, or station, try to make the ports convenient to it's size, design, and weight distribution. a lander usually has them on top, for example, so you don't really need to fumble with side swiping, and in the end, as long as the RCS aren't duct taped unevenly, that usually leaves "forward" and "back" translations unaffected by balance in that respect. And I've seen plenty of success with that.

For stations, putting your ports out on truss supports, or making a specific docking spot away from the central portion, will help. Truss me.

Now, hopefully I wasn't talking out of my atomic engine too much, as I attempt to take my own advice. Hope anything I blabbered out helps.

[Cheebsta]

If you're pointing at a spot 50m beside the docking port when you line the pink and green markers up, you're just setting yourself up to fly past in a straight line 50m from the docking port. The green thing is showing your relative motion, so if you look at the other vessel and see you need to go right to line up, the green thing needs to be to the right of the pink thing.

I was screwing this part up for a while, but once I got it through my thick head docking became a non-issue, except for the occasional massive explosion upon docking here and there.

Also, make sure you're targetting the port, and controlling your ship from the port. Makes things less complicated, especially if one or the other isn't right on the end of a rocket.

Also, also I also do the trick mentioned above and mount mechjeb, a light, a battery, or some other relatively insignificant object to the "top" of the rocket while it's in the VAB.

Edited July 20, 2013 by Cheebsta

[lammatt]

- time your launch, so that u dont have to wait forever,

- use the manuver node to set up your approach burn, then use RCS to fine tune your approach to make it as close as possible

- time warp till around a min before the approach and then start maneuvering your ship and lining up you station port with the ship

- slow down the approach speed to 0.5m/s when theyre less than a hundred meter apart

-use SAS and RCS to hold the nose direction while tweaking the travel direction

- always stick your RCS at the right place: around the center of mass

[Sathurn]

While a docking cam should be added to stock, the lazormod add other thing I don't want so I can really judge it. However spinning both ships is perfectly reasonable when learning to dock.

And for the record I can dance around my station going from docking port to docking port without lazormod. But that requires alot of practice.

[Vanamonde]

I made a practice ship that launches as one piece with its target ships, so you can practice the last part of the docking without doing a rendezvous first, and starting from close range. Try playing with that for a while before going back to a full rendezvous-to-dock. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/25425-Help-with-Docking-A-Trainer-Ship-for-Newbies

[Anachronda]

Well, here's what I do. I'm an uncoordinated idiot, but I'm getting to the point where I can just fly in and dock, no muss, no fuss.

The ship with which I am docking is in an equatorial orbit with its docking port pointing south. This means that the docking ship will be pointing north. This makes the goal of the docking game be to move the target indicator on the navball to the intersection between the north, red, line and the horizon line on the navball.

In addition to the target position and velocity indicators, there's that little thingie in the center of the navball that that looks like a V with wings. This represents you.

I orient my ship to the intersection of north and the horizon, which is where the target will eventually wind up. Then I rotate my ship using Q and E so that target position indicator is lined up with the wings on the V thingie (i.e., until it's more or less horizontal). This means I can point at the target using A and D.

It also means that the wings of the V thingie lie on a great circle between the target position and the intersection and north and the horizon.

Now it's just a matter of walking the target along that great circle until it reaches the intersection.

If my prograde velocity vector is to the left of the target position, the target will move to the right. If it's above the target position, the target will move down. If it's to the right of the target position, the target will move left. Etc. Using RCS translations, I can move my velocity vector relative to the direction of the target, which means that I can move the target in any direction that I want.

So it becomes just a matter of marching the target along the wings of the V until it reaches the intersection. Once it does so, I use the RCS translations to ensure that my velocity vector is pointing straight at the target.

Edited July 21, 2013 by Anachronda
realized I should have said "horizon" rather than "ground".