Rednezvous for the dummiest of the dummies

[Ghostexx7]

So, i have a Kerbin Space Station (The Storer station) up there in Kerbin orbit, and since it would be TOO big, i decided to make it mothership-like, it has a Hubmax point connector, and im planning to attach in every zone 2 jumbo tanks (yes, too big, but i have that planned)

Problems:

-Either the craft is TOOOOO fast that i only get 596M close then it flees out

-I have no idea how to increase/lower speed/velocity

-When i got close and the same velocity/speed (Hyperedit, not anything else, that is why the other problem its still there), i cant attach, i face the attacher but i either pass or push it or something strange like that, i dont know how to keep quiet.

-I am a dummy (a.k.a dont say anything about maths)

-Never docked in orbit before

Someone knows how to explain this? i do not find any tutorial useful :/

when i learn to orbit this i will just go to use it in other upcoming bases (other moons/planets)

Edited August 1, 2014 by Ghostexx7

[Pecan]

First of all; do you have any mods or anything else we need to know about that might be affecting your ships?

Secondly: it always helps if you post pictures of your ships/stations so we can have a look at what the problem might be. Such as...

Third: did you actually fit docking ports on the hubmax? As it says in the description text they are "sold separately" so, if not, what you have there is just a box.

Fourth: if you have the big, "senior", docking-ports - are they they right way around, it's easy to put them on the wrong way unfortunately, then they don't work.

Fifth: rendezvous and docking are two different skills that both take time and practice to learn. If you give-up on the tutorials then install MechJeb (autopilot mod) and let it do the work for you. You can always come back and learn this part of spaceflight later.

[Kamuchi]

Scott Manley

trydyingtolive

[Wanderfound]

Short version: first, get into orbit and match inclination, and set the station as a target. Don't worry about height yet.

Then, look at the target: is it in front of you or behind you? If it's in front, you need to lower your orbit to catch up (but not so low that you hit atmosphere). If it's behind, you need to raise your orbit to slow down. Don't bother about circularising, elliptical is fine.

Orbit until you get a close intercept (anything <10km will do), then circularise your orbit to match the target. You'll probably still be a touch off; add a small manoeuvre node (prograde if you're in front, retrograde if you're behind) that gets you a <1,000m intercept. Wait until just before closest approach, burn target retrograde to kill your relative velocity, then point at the target and gently approach. Watch the target/prograde indicators as you approach and burn or RCS to keep them aligned. Flip and kill velocity so that you come to a stop about 40m from the target and then dock.

[Ghostexx7]

Short version: first, get into orbit and match inclination, and set the station as a target. Don't worry about height yet.

Then, look at the target: is it in front of you or behind you? If it's in front, you need to lower your orbit to catch up (but not so low that you hit atmosphere). If it's behind, you need to raise your orbit to slow down. Don't bother about circularising, elliptical is fine.

Orbit until you get a close intercept (anything <10km will do), then circularise your orbit to match the target. You'll probably still be a touch off; add a small manoeuvre node (prograde if you're in front, retrograde if you're behind) that gets you a <1,000m intercept. Wait until just before closest approach, burn target retrograde to kill your relative velocity, then point at the target and gently approach. Watch the target/prograde indicators as you approach and burn or RCS to keep them aligned. Flip and kill velocity so that you come to a stop about 40m from the target and then dock.

Thanks!!!!

[Sirrobert]

For general 'target goes to fast'

Remember to switch the navball to target mode. Than, when you want to slow down, you simply point at the retrograde marker and burn. When in target mode, those markers are for the speed relative to the target.

For the docking: Did you put docking ports on the Humax? It's a suprisingly common mistake for people to forget

[NecroBones]

Good advice in this thread so far!

Remember that you can switch the nav-ball to "target" and "orbit" modes by clicking on the speed indicator. This setting will control what the prograde/retrograde markers refer to. You can match velocity with the target by being in target mode, and burning retrograde, and bringing the speed to zero.

If you find yourself docking in the dark (behind the planet) a lot, you might also consider trying to steer the maneuver so that you can dock in the daylight. This happens to a lot of people simply because they prefer to launch during the day, and by the time they rendezvous, they've moved to the dark side of the planet. I have a tutorial for this in my signature below: