Back الالتقاء في الفضاء Arabic Стыкоўка BE Trobada orbital Catalan Setkání (kosmonautika) Czech Rendezvous (Raumfahrt) German Encuentro espacial Spanish پهلوگیری فضایی FA Rendez-vous spatial French Pertemuan luar angkasa ID Rendezvous Italian

Space rendezvous

Astronaut Christopher Cassidy uses a rangefinder to determine distance between the Space Shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station
Lunar Module Eagle ascent stage rendezvous with the command module Columbia in lunar orbit after returning from a landing

A space rendezvous (/ˈrɒndeɪvuː/) is a set of orbital maneuvers during which two spacecraft, one of which is often a space station, arrive at the same orbit and approach to a very close distance (e.g. within visual contact). Rendezvous requires a precise match of the orbital velocities and position vectors of the two spacecraft, allowing them to remain at a constant distance through orbital station-keeping. Rendezvous may or may not be followed by docking or berthing, procedures which bring the spacecraft into physical contact and create a link between them.

The same rendezvous technique can be used for spacecraft "landing" on natural objects with a weak gravitational field, e.g. landing on one of the Martian moons would require the same matching of orbital velocities, followed by a "descent" that shares some similarities with docking.