Learning how to dock your ship in Starfield is something you need to do fairly early on, with the mission “The Old Neighborhood” sending you to the Nova Galactic Staryard space station.
The problem is, it doesn’t tell you how to physically get onto the station itself. Landing on a planet is simple enough — you just pick a spot and your ship lands. While you’re in space, though, rendezvousing with another ship or a space station (like docking with the Staryard or The Eye) means you have a new skill to learn.
Our Starfield docking guide will explain how to dock your ship with space stations.
How to dock your ship at a space station in Starfield
To get onto a station or ship, you have to dock. To begin docking your ship in Starfield, you first have to first target the space station with the A button (on an Xbox controller), or the E key on PC.
This is the input you’ll use to cycle through nearby targets in space, including planets, stations, and ships (both enemy and friendly).
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Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks via Polygon
This will get you the option to hail your target by holding down the A button on an Xbox Controller, or holding the E key on PC. (It’s not always necessary to hail a ship or station first, but it’s just common courtesy.)
Finally, to dock your ship, you have to get within 500m of your target, then you’ll get the option to dock by holding down the X button on an Xbox controller, or the R key on PC.
From the pilot’s seat of your ship, you’ll have three options: board whatever you just docked with, undock from it, or stand up to wander your ship. If you stand up, you can head to your ship’s airlock to find the door to the other vessel.
Can you fast travel while docked?
If your ship is docked with another vessel, you can’t fast travel or select a new destination from the Starmap. In order for fast travel to be an option again, you’ll have to head back through the airlock and docker onto your ship, get to the pilot’s seat, and choose to undock with the Y button on an Xbox controller, or the space bar on a keyboard.
Update (Sept. 4): Added the PC controls for all relevant inputs.
