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[LordSlowpoke]

I have finally figured out how to use atmos engines in a rocket in a stable manner. It wasn't too much of a strutball, either.

900 kilos of fuel to get a 300 ton rocket to ten kilometers, it's downhill from there. Woo!

[Sean Mirrsen]

RCS is OP. In case you can't tell (wouldn't be surprised), that's Moho. First stage was just launch clamps, and what you see in the shot is what traveled all the way. Still got enough to land, too. ^_^

You could do the same thing with a square probe, a battery, two tiny solar panels, a spherical RCS tank, and two quad RCS jets. But a manned mission is more interesting.

[Anvilfolk]

So what's all the hype about nuclear engines? I'm fearful of trying something other than the regular fuel engines since I got a probe with electric engines but without xenon gas to the moon :\

[Putnam]

So what's all the hype about nuclear engines? I'm fearful of trying something other than the regular fuel engines since I got a probe with electric engines but without xenon gas to the moon :\

They're very efficient in space.

[Karlito]

Just completed my first trip outside the Kerbin's SOI. The planner really helps with interplanetary rendezvous. I only had to minimally adapt my Mun-and-return ship for a one way mission, too.

Spoiler: Greetings from Duna! (click to show/hide)

It sure is a good thing the parachutes worked on this planet, we might've been a splotch on the ground, otherwise.


Oops! Spoke too soon. Gregwig Kerman was lost in a tragic Reloading accident.


Undeterred, his partner Chadgun goes for a... hike.


Of course, he's in control. Why do...


you...


ask?


Just how big is this mountain anyway?


Man, next time I'm bringing a rover.

[Mageziya]

I decided to stop waiting and just play 0.18.1. I don't care if I'll lose everything in the next day or two. Better than waiting for a month.

[Aqizzar]

I swear every launch I send to my Orbital station gets harder and harder to line up.  Not in terms of docking, that's almost easy at this point.  The problem is getting anywhere within sight of the thing.  I just blew threw about two days of in game time, adjusting orbit and watching these dots fly around, before I finally aborted in frustration.

Every single revolution from every approach the craft only near the same orbital angle when they're at their farthest apart point.  How do people plan these rendezvous anyway?

And of course, after learning all the good tips for the docking itself, I had to go and make a robot segment that controls backwards.  Can't let it too easy on me.

[Rose]

What I've been doing, which isn't much, I admit, since I just started, is wait till the markers say I'll be gettng reasonably close, then use the maneuver nodes to adjust it till it's reasonably close.

[Aqizzar]

What I've been doing, which isn't much, I admit, since I just started, is wait till the markers say I'll be gettng reasonably close, then use the maneuver nodes to adjust it till it's reasonably close.

That's about as obvious as saying, "Well clearly you just have to do it right."  I think 90% of the approach is knowing when to launch and what kind of holding orbit to achieve, which I seem to be terrible at judging or consistently aligning.  Then there's the "orbit slightly apart from the target until you're close enough to eyeball it" phase, which seems to conspire against me.

[JWNoctis]

A good guide for orbital rendezvous. Only the graphs are really necessary for KSP

In short: Get to a slightly, say, 50km lower orbit from the target on the same orbital plane, and some 30 degree behind. Then use the maneuver planner. Neutralize relative motion by retrograde thrust FIRST when you get close OR YOU WILL OVERSHOOT, then point toward your target and accelerate, use RCS LIN to keep your motion marker pointed at the target, decelerate again on approach, align, and dock.

That is it, unless we're doing the challenge of docking without maneuver planner or targeting.

[ank]

That does it, I'm making a video!

Till then:
Wait till the station is about 5 min from passing overhead.
Then launch, get your apoasis to the same height as the space station.

Now when you get to apoasis, are you ahead of the station?
If yes, than get a higher orbit on the other side of Kerth.
If no, make it a lower orbit.
you should see close aproach markers, you can use manoeuvre nodes to see later interceps.
Make a node opposit of the close approach, fiddle with all the settings on the node and watch the separation. at some point you get separation below 50km.

Then you just need to align your speed to the target, and burn towards it, then stop when you start moving away. REPEAT.REPEAT.REPEAT.REPEAT.

[Skyrunner]

I think I can see how a pre-launch planner would be useful.
Another bad thing is that if you put a rocket on the pad and fastforward, it shakes itself to pieces with no chance to wait for time to pass.

[JWNoctis]

A direct ascent is not only difficult, but also actually more costly at least according to that Orbiterwiki article.

Just get to a lower orbit, and time accelerate as needed.

Or if you have to, wait in your target craft and switch back at the launch window.

[alway]

First of all, be sure orbital planes match up (are or really close). If they don't, the delta-v required makes it worth just launching again. When you've got an orbital plane matching the target, remember the simple rule first derived by Newton: "Equal areas in equal time." Or in layman's terms, the farther away you are, the slower you revolve around the body. The closer you are, the faster you revolve around the body. This also goes for elliptical orbits. If the target is behind you in the orbit, make yours slightly bigger (a short burn in the direction of your velocity), if ahead, make it smaller (a short burn opposite your velocity). If accelerating in the direction opposite the target feels funny to you, welcome to orbital mechanics!

You only need to do these burns once; this will leave you with an elliptical orbit, with one side more or less touching the target's orbit, and the other side below or above the target's orbital altitude. Now, wait a few orbits to catch up or for the target to catch up to you.

When the intersection is close enough, it's time to use the nav-ball at the bottom of the screen. When targeting a craft at close range, it tells you both the position of the craft (pink dot with circle for the craft, pink dot with lines for opposite direction from the craft), your relative velocity to it, and the direction of the relative velocity (the green circle on the navball). First order of business: reduce your relative velocity with the craft. For your first run, if you have enough fuel, reduce the relative velocity to 0, followed by approaching the direction of the craft slowly. If you are experienced or have low fuel, reduce velocity while redirecting it towards the craft. Slow down as your approach the craft; you should be using RCS at this point; so make sure to read the controls for the docking panel (at this point you should also switch from staging to docking mode). Now it's a matter of lining up the ports. Be sure they are very well matched up, then go in to dock at an extremely low velocity. The low velocity is extremely important, as it keeps you from bouncing off, and more importantly, keeps you from imparting much of a spin on the station if you accidentally bump it. A spinning station is damn near impossible to dock with.

[ank]

First of all, be sure orbital planes match up (are or really close). If they don't, the delta-v required makes it worth just launching again. When you've got an orbital plane matching the target, remember the simple rule first derived by Newton: "Equal areas in equal time."

Ahem, this is Keplers second law, not Newton(though it can be derived from Newtons laws)

everything else in the post is spot on though.