Get a feel for orbital mechanics by catching other spacecraft. Your first lesson: to catch up with something ahead of you in orbit, you slow down.
Friendly warning: your instincts learned physics from cars, bikes and shopping trolleys, and none of those orbit anything. Up here, speeding up makes you slower and braking gets you there sooner. Spend a few minutes at Flight School first and do exactly what it says, even when it sounds wrong. Especially when it sounds wrong.
Words with a dotted underline open an explanation with an animation. Tap one to see what it means.
Hold a burn button to thrust. Longer holds burn harder. Pinch or scroll to zoom, drag to look around.
Planet imagery: Solar System Scope, CC BY 4.0, reprojected to a top-down view.
Friendly warning
Your instincts are wrong up here
They learned physics from cars, bikes and shopping trolleys, and none of those orbit anything. In orbit, speeding up makes you slower and braking gets you there sooner.
Spend a few minutes at Flight School first and do exactly what it says, even when it sounds wrong. Especially when it sounds wrong.
How to do it
You
Target
Closest approach
Paused
Keys: W/S prograde and retrograde, A/D radial in and out, T toward, M match, Shift key for fine control, B to plan a burn, < and > for warp, F to change what the camera is centred on, Z to fit the view, L to follow, N for music, Esc to pause.
Flight School complete
You speak orbit
Here is everything in one place. The first level puts prograde and retrograde to work.