A very easy way to docking

[federicoaa]

Hi,

I just found a way to dock very easily in a matter of seconds, and without using any mod.

Once you rendezvous with the target ship at about 50m, click the port you want to dock in and select as target, then point your ship to the target prograde and activate SAS if you haven't done it before.

Then, go to the target ship by pressing "[", select your original ship as target and point towards target prograde.

This way, both ships will be pointing to each other. Now, press "h" to move closer to a speed about 0.4 m/s, use ijkl to ensure the relative speed prograde is also pointing to the target prograde. It is very important that both your ship and velocity point to the target prograde.

Your ships will dock very easy and fast with this method

[Jagger]

Very nice, haven't actually thinked of that. A shame that wouldn't work with stations . MechJeb helps with docking on stations. You can go parallel with the target's docking port

[delta1452]

I have been using this method forever and have always been surprised I have never seen it brought up before. Also I've found it works fairly well on stations, just control the station from the docking port and want and point it right at the incoming ship.

[John FX]

I also use this method. Get close, stop, point the two ships at each other then use a small amount of thrust to move closer, dock. No RCS use.

I figured this out when I was docking before I knew about RCS. I just thought docking was hardcore...

[federicoaa]

Yes, it a quite straightforward way but not many people realize, that's why I wanted to make this thread

Jagger: Click on the docking port and select "control from here", then the markers will be from the port perspective

[pigletx2]

I might have to try combining this with docking camera and docking alignment HUD mods to see if I don't need mechJeb 2 anymore.

[plastik]

I.. can't believe I didn't think of this before. Or nobody mentioned it before. My stations tend to be small anyway so this would be really, really easy to do for most scenarios I'd be docking in. And yes this actually allows RCS-free docking if you're careful. Personally I'd be too scared of thrusting forward too quickly and not having enough time to spin around to kill the speed

[BraciaB]

The way I like to dock is very similar to yours. I prefer to switch to vessel I'd like to dock (let's call it dockee), turn it so that the docking port is in front of the ship that will do the docking (let's call it docker) and then switch back to it. I don't do it with big stations though in order not to destroy her. Then controlling the docker i choose a docking port on dockee as a target and right click on docker's docking port to choose "control from here". Then I switch to free or chase camera and rotate docker without RCS so that nav ball is not rotated in order to tranlate easier. Then I point towards target prograde, turn SAS and RCS on and do a single push towards it. That way RCS will be used only to slight corrections of translation. All You need to do is just pointing towards target prograde (pink) and keeping your prograde (yellow) at the pink dot just by translating. It's the most efficient if you are doing it for last 100 meters.

[Progressm]

Heh, this is exactly how I dock as well. The ijkl adjusting becomes second nature quickly.

[draeath]

Quick tip: orient things so your target docking port is facing an orbit normal (eg straight at the N or S horizon - straight up/down). As you orbit, the port will spin, but the orientation itself won't change as a result. Couple that with using SAS and this method and it's easy-mode docking.

Oh, and make sure you change your input mode so that your bottom-left indicators are blue (capslock by default, I rebind to Z) - if you don't know about that one, you will save much of your sanity with that trick.

Edited January 3, 2014 by draeath

[michaelhester07]

I've used this method to dock transfer stages together. It saves a lot of time that I would have used to align one ship to another without spinning the second ship. I especially use it when I'm out of RCS fuel (or forgot to equip a ship with it).

Ps: as of .23 all the pods have RCS fuel built in so you don't need a tank, just the thrusters.

Ps2: If you put 2 sets of thrusters on your ship, one set on the bow and one on the aft, you don't have to worry about getting them aligned to your ship's center of mass. The thrusters will fire proportionate to keep your ship from tumbling automatically.

Ps3: You'll need more thrusters for a heavier ship to move it in any decent amount of time.

[Javster]

Very good, but I don't know how to rendezvous...

[draeath]

Same way you visit another body. Set a target. Match your inclination (by burning either up or down at the ascending node or descending node).

Then, create a maneuver node, and tweak so your orbit's AP touches the orbit of the target. Now shift it forward/back in time until you get "closest approach" indicators. Tune those to get them as close as you can.

Run your burn, so you should now have an eccentric orbit with the AP near the target. About 1/4 the way there create another node, and use this to "tune" your closest approach. Anything within 1km should be good, but the closer the better.

Plan to circularize at your AP. Once there, try to kill off any remaining relative velocity (click the indicator at the top of the navball to toggle from orbit to target). Once you're standing still relatively, you can then (gently!) approach directly.

Also read here.

If you have trouble, don't despair - this is one of the harder things to do in KSP, and especially so if you don't have something like Mechjeb to give you numbers.

[Seret]

Er, how else would you dock? Are people doing it differently to this?

Edited January 6, 2014 by Seret

[DonLorenzo]

Very good, but I don't know how to rendezvous...

I just happen to have uploaded a rendez-vous tutorial today. Go have a look at it

[federicoaa]

Er, how else would you dock? Are people doing it differently to this?

Yes, what most people do is to point one ship and translate until both ports are aligned.

[Seret]

Yes, what most people do is to point one ship and translate until both ports are aligned.

Well, turning the other port to face the approaching ship seems pretty obvious to me. Why make things any harder than they need to be?

[Aphobius]

If you have a huge space station you don't want to turn it around. But maybe that's not a good enough reason in this game.

[Seret]

If you have a huge space station you don't want to turn it around. But maybe that's not a good enough reason in this game.

It'd have to be pretty huge. The central component of my stations is always a maneuver node with reaction wheels, and I tend to build them in a cubic arrangement. You do see a lot of long spindly ones posted here though, turning those would be a mare. To my mind though, stations are made to be docked with so if they can't rotate easily they're not really fit for purpose.

[Aphobius]

Imagine something like Death Star with real physics, turning to point its docking ports towards every incoming ship, because pilots were too stupid to learn a simple maneuver. How hilarious that would be? xD

[draeath]

Why do you think they have tractor beams?

[Javster]

I managed to RV! I only just saw the advice (after doing it), but thanks anyway!

[thunderstar]

i use that for docking two small ships, it makes it really easy, but when you have a really large station i have to rely on docking port alignment indicator, just triying to move something as big as an station will torn apart everything

[elmarko]

This is a good idea but if you take time doing the docking orbital mechanics will mess you up. You'll end up having to reorientate a few times as you get closer.

[MajorThomas]

Yes, docking is quite easy, and use RCS only at terminal phase for fine tuning / braking. I see people with RCS all over their ships, probably 3 to 10 times the amount they really need.

If you shuck the excess RCS tanks and monopropellant you can save lots of weight, that will increase the capabilities of your mission, an upward spiral.

(It's a case of flying skills removing the need for overbuilding your ships. I could say the same thing about launch vehicles too...)