My first Orbital Rendezvous!

[lickstaph]

Okay, so I attempted my first orbital rendezvous today with little confidence that I would actually succeed.

Earlier today, I put into orbit a space station that would act as my target.

(I plan on making the space station a stepping stone to the Mun for my spacecrafts, when docking is introduced in 0.15)

I decided that the space station would soon need a re-supply of fuel, oxygen, water and food, so I set out to accomplish this mission.

After viewing a quick tutorial on Youtube, I dove right in.

On the final approach to the Kerbin-Mun Transit Station

At this point I felt like I was coming in too fast, and started to panic

That\'s close enough for me, thank you very much!

Better view of Transit Station. I think I can see Jeb waving at me from inside!

See you guys on the next re-supply mission!

Safe splashdown of the crew of the first Transit Station Re-Supply mission!

Thanks for reading my little story. I felt pretty pleased with myself, and needed to share my accomplishment!

God speed, fellow kerbanauts!

[AlternNocturn]

Nice! That\'s more than I\'ll ever be able to do, that much is certain. Hmmm... now I\'m tempted to try...

[hebdomad]

Nice! That\'s more than I\'ll ever be able to do, that much is certain. Hmmm... now I\'m tempted to try...

AlternNocturn, there are a few useful tutorials on the web but the key point is patience!

Some times orbital rendezvous are like crawling to your objective that\'s on the other side of the planet at times.

Nice work Lickstaph!

I dare you to build a rocket to de-orbit your space station!

[lickstaph]

Nice work Lickstaph!

I dare you to build a rocket to de-orbit your space station!

Well the space station has more than enough fuel to make it to the Mun and return to Kerbin if I wanted it to

However, the act of de-orbiting another spacecraft would be quite interesting, and sounds very challenging.

I\'ll definitely think about doing something like that in the future!

[mincespy]

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I\'m pretty sure I\'m the only person on the forums who hasn\'t yet performed a rezvendous...

[Ydoow]

Yeah the absolute key to rendezvous is patience. It\'s very easy to think you\'re coming in too fast/too slow and be tempted to floor the throttle.

Once you floor it, you\'re almost guaranteed to have to start over.

[Kosmo-not]

I was going to ask if you happened to use my rendezvous table to accomplish your mission, but then I saw your altitude of 405km (my table only goes up to 200km for Kerbin orbit). Good job, pilot!

[Sabactus]

Closest I\'ve ever come was 5.4km. Never been able to get closer.

[Kosmo-not]

Closest I\'ve ever come was 5.4km. Never been able to get closer.

Closest I\'ve come was 600m, but my orbital plane was a little off.

[VincentMcConnell]

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I\'m pretty sure I\'m the only person on the forums who hasn\'t yet performed a rezvendous...

I haven\'t done it around Kerbin. I\'ve only done it from the surface of the Mun, launched into orbit and rendezvous\'d with the mother ship. So far, around Kerbin, closest I\'ve gotten is a few hundred meters. I can rendezvous with jettisoned boosters in orbit, though. It\'s not THAT hard, it\'s just boring and takes a long time. I\'ll be more tempted to do more rendezvous when .15 comes out.

[Kosmo-not]

I haven\'t done it around Kerbin. I\'ve only done it from the surface of the Mun, launched into orbit and rendezvous\'d with the mother ship. So far, around Kerbin, closest I\'ve gotten is a few hundred meters. I can rendezvous with jettisoned boosters in orbit, though. It\'s not THAT hard, it\'s just boring and takes a long time. I\'ll be more tempted to do more rendezvous when .15 comes out.

I don\'t think rendezvous is boring. It\'s easy and doesn\'t take long. After your intercept burn, wait half an orbit and circularize, and there you are!

My latest rendezvous was from 120km Kerbin orbit down to 100km to test that part of my table. I arrived 300m away.

For those interested in how it\'s done: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=9726.0

[aFlatRabbit]

lol I suck really badly at things like this. I used to have a rocket in a nearly perfect circular orbit (Don\'t ask how I did it ) and I I tried about 6 times to do a orbital rendezvous with it and all times failed very badly. : ;D

[VincentMcConnell]

lol I suck really badly at things like this. I used to have a rocket in a nearly perfect circular orbit (Don\'t ask how I did it ) and I I tried about 6 times to do a orbital rendezvous with it and all times failed very badly. : ;D

Why would we ask how you did it? Circular orbit is easy...

[aFlatRabbit]

Trust me If you knew how bad I was you would ask. =P

[Thiel]

Why would we ask how you did it? Circular orbit is easy...

The point here is that he doesn\'t know how he got there. I can recognize that feeling, though in my case I\'d ended up on a polar orbit around Kerbol.

[lickstaph]

Since I started this thread I have successfully completed another rendezvous, however, whichever ship I am not piloting is always floating around randomly, even when I left it with its SAS turned on. Is there something I\'m doing wrong, or is this a glitch that needs to be fixed?

[Randox]

Since I started this thread I have successfully completed another rendezvous, however, whichever ship I am not piloting is always floating around randomly, even when I left it with its SAS turned on. Is there something I\'m doing wrong, or is this a glitch that needs to be fixed?

Like it keeps spins around very slowly?

The problem isn\'t with that ship, its with yours. Assuming you left the unpiloted ship totally stationary, its orientation is now fixed, and it will rotate relative to Kerbin doing a full 360 as it completes an orbit. If your trying to dock with a particular point, like say the command pod, then orient the unpiloted craft so that its longitudinal axist is lined up with the rotational axis of Kerbin. It will still spin, but its nose will always be \'up\' or \'down\' as the rest of the craft rotates around it.

What you really need is something that gives the craft the correct spin to keep it steady relative to the planet.

[Guest GroundHOG-2010]

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I\'m pretty sure I\'m the only person on the forums who hasn\'t yet performed a rendezvous...

I love how you haven\'t done a rendezvous though I have, and I haven\'t landed on the mun.

[rustymcclintock]

I attempted a docking rendouvous, I was able to bump the capsule i had in orbit but man that is soooo hard. took like 4-5 hours. and i ran out of fuel...

[VincentMcConnell]

I love how you haven\'t done a rendezvous though I have, and I haven\'t landed on the mun.

How have you not landed on the mun? It\'s easy and there are PLENTY of guides around... I recommend the newest Nova Punch parts pack. It has a .craft called 'NP Heavy Mun Rocket' I can land that thing on the mun a thousand times in a row. I usually touch down with 18% fuel.

[lickstaph]

Like it keeps spins around very slowly?

No, I mean the unpiloted ship spins around on all 3 axis relatively fast.

I just double checked, I turned the Space station\'s ASAS on, exited to the tracking station, then piloted the resupply ship, and could see that the Space stations ASAS was still not working.

So I went back into the tracking station, then piloted the Space station ship again, and noticed it\'s ASAS was turned off.

So it seems like the ASAS turns off every time I exit to the tracking station :\

[Guest GroundHOG-2010]

How have you not landed on the mun? It\'s easy and there are PLENTY of guides around... I recommend the newest Nova Punch parts pack. It has a .craft called 'NP Heavy Mun Rocket' I can land that thing on the mun a thousand times in a row. I usually touch down with 18% fuel.

If I am to land on the mun, I am going to design my own lander (whats the fun in landing someone elses), but I can get my head around the direct accent vehicle (as in, How is a kerbal spose to walk on the mun without a ladder or a small vehicle design). So I am waiting for 0.15 or possibly 0.16 for Eva\'s if thats when they are happening. Eather of those or until I get sick and tired of Tim_Barrett yelling at me over skype. But it does mean that I am possibly the oldest player that still plays it to never have landed on the mun (oldest in time playing, not age).

[VincentMcConnell]

If I am to land on the mun, I am going to design my own lander (whats the fun in landing someone elses), but I can get my head around the direct accent vehicle (as in, How is a kerbal spose to walk on the mun without a ladder or a small vehicle design). So I am waiting for 0.15 or possibly 0.16 for Eva\'s if thats when they are happening. Eather of those or until I get sick and tired of Tim_Barrett yelling at me over skype. But it does mean that I am possibly the oldest player that still plays it to never have landed on the mun (oldest in time playing, not age).

Then just design your own lander... And don\'t use Direct Ascent. It\'s an economic near-impossibility. Just take the 30 minutes it requires and land on the Mun. You\'ll be really happy with yourself. I\'ll gladly personally help you do it if you\'d like.

[Guest GroundHOG-2010]

Then just design your own lander... And don\'t use Direct Ascent. It\'s an economic near-impossibility. Just take the 30 minutes it requires and land on the Mun. You\'ll be really happy with yourself. I\'ll gladly personally help you do it if you\'d like.

Once again no thanks (I really get hassled by Tim, Nova has learn\'t to leave me alone). I am waiting for 0.15 or 0.16.

(Just so you know, by direct accent I mean taking everything down to the surface and back, I would much rather do a EOR/LOR aproach)

[VincentMcConnell]

Once again no thanks (I really get hassled by Tim, Nova has learn\'t to leave me alone). I am waiting for 0.15 or 0.16.

(Just so you know, by direct accent I mean taking everything down to the surface and back, I would much rather do a EOR/LOR aproach)

I know what you mean by Direct Ascent. I\'m familiar with the three methods of going to the Moon. DA is nearly impossible.