How to Dock in Star Citizen

To dock in Star Citizen, contact the station’s Air Traffic Control, approach your assigned docking port, and use the docking guides to connect manually or engage automatic docking when it becomes available. If ATC assigns a hangar instead, you need to land rather than connect to an external docking tube. This guide covers both arrivals, the differences between ship types, and what to check when docking will not complete.

Docking vs. Landing in Star Citizen

Docking connects your ship’s docking collar to a compatible station port or ship connection. You normally leave through an airlock and connecting passage rather than through a ramp onto a hangar floor.

Landing puts your ship on its landing gear inside a hangar or on a pad. Players often call either activity “docking,” but the final approach is different.

Station ATC handles arrival assignments. A large ship does not automatically receive a docking port: the ship’s implemented capabilities, its configuration, and the destination’s facilities determine the appropriate connection. A visible airlock or docking collar alone does not prove that every docking combination is supported.

Star Citizen updates can also change controls and interface labels. Use your installed build’s bindings rather than assuming a shortcut from an older guide still applies.

How to Dock a Ship at a Space Station

Choose the arrival procedure that matches what you are trying to connect to.

Your Destination or Assignment	What You Need to Do
An external station docking port	Request clearance, align the ship’s docking collar, and complete the connection
A station hangar or landing pad	Request clearance, lower the landing gear, and land in the assigned space
Another ship’s docking connection	Use the supported ship-to-ship docking procedure, not station ATC

Step 1: Prepare Your Ship and Controls

Take the pilot seat and make sure the ship has power and working flight controls.
Approach the station while leaving yourself room to slow down and maneuver outside its structures.
Review your installed build’s control bindings before starting the approach. Select the input device you actually use.
Reduce your approach speed before opening communications.

Docking is easier when you arrive under control rather than trying to brake, navigate menus, and locate the assigned port simultaneously. Use the speed limiter to make small corrections manageable; there is no need to maintain your travel speed during the approach.

Step 2: Request Docking From Station ATC

Keep the ship clear of station structures while requesting clearance.
Select the station’s ATC contact and initiate the call. You can also use your bound landing-request action.
Wait for an acknowledgment and an assigned destination marker.
Identify whether the assignment is a docking port or a hangar.

If the station is not available in communications, continue approaching through clear space until its ATC contact becomes available. Do not fly toward an arbitrary docking tube and assume proximity counts as permission.

An acknowledgment without a visible assignment is not enough to begin the final approach. Keep the ship clear of the station while you establish which destination belongs to you.

Step 3: Align Your Docking Collar With the Assigned Port

Follow the assigned marker toward the correct docking structure.
Locate your ship’s docking collar. On a ship with a side-mounted collar, the connection is beside the hull, not at the nose.
Match the orientation indicated by the docking display.
Use short strafe inputs to correct lateral and vertical position, and small rotational inputs to correct orientation.
Remove unwanted drift before closing the remaining gap.

The important distinction is between orientation and position. Your ship can face the correct direction while its collar remains above, below, or beside the station connection.

Use the docking display to correct those errors separately. Once the orientation is right, avoid swinging the whole ship around to solve a small sideways offset; translate the ship instead.

Step 4: Complete the Docking Connection

Choose manual or automatic docking: – Automatic docking: Once the docking assist is available, activate the automatic-landing/docking action. Let the assist perform the final movement. – Manual docking: Keep the alignment indicators centered and close the remaining distance with small inputs until the connection engages.
Wait for the game’s docked acknowledgment or corresponding status indication.
Stop issuing movement commands once the connection is established.

Make a controlled approach to your assigned port before trying automatic docking. If it does not engage, check that you have an active assignment and are approaching the correct connection before trying again.

Step 5: Enter the Station

Leave the pilot seat only after docking is confirmed.
Walk to the connected docking airlock.
Check that the passage is present and the doors operate normally.
Enter the station through the completed connection.

Do not treat a stationary ship as proof of a successful dock. If the door opens onto empty space, the passage is missing, or the connection is visibly misaligned, stay aboard and troubleshoot rather than trying to walk through it.

How to Land When ATC Assigns a Hangar

A hangar assignment is not a failed docking attempt. It means your arrival is being handled as a landing.

Follow the marker for your assigned hangar or pad.
For a hangar, wait until its doors are open and the entrance is clear.
Lower the landing gear and approach at a controllable speed.
Enter fully, align over the landing area, and descend gently. If automatic landing becomes available, you can use that assist instead of completing the touchdown manually.
Confirm that the ship is resting on its gear and that landing has been acknowledged.
Shut down the engines before leaving the pilot seat, then exit into the hangar.

Do not substitute an unassigned hangar simply because its doors are open. Follow the destination marker ATC assigned to your ship.

Special Docking Cases

Hull C Docking and Cargo Operations

For the Hull C, keep the docking connection and the cargo-transfer operation separate.

Follow the station’s arrival assignment for the ship’s current configuration. For cargo work, follow the applicable cargo-service instructions and verify the cargo operation’s completion separately from the docking acknowledgment.

If the ship connects successfully but a cargo transaction does not progress, troubleshoot the cargo operation rather than repeatedly breaking and remaking a working dock.

Reclaimer Station Docking

The Reclaimer gained station-docking support in Alpha 4.3.2. Guides that categorically say the Reclaimer cannot dock at stations therefore describe older behavior.

Use the actual ATC assignment at a compatible destination. Station-docking support does not mean every station, port, or ship-to-ship connection is suitable for the Reclaimer.

Ship-to-Ship Docking

Ship-to-ship docking is not a universal ability to connect any two visible airlocks. Check whether docking is supported for the ship pairing you want to use.

Use the docking interaction for that pairing rather than calling station ATC. Do not assume that a station-docking tutorial supplies the correct targeting, approval, or release controls for another ship.

Flying a small vehicle into a larger ship’s hangar or cargo bay is also different from docking. Physical entry into the bay does not create a docking-collar connection.

Why Docking Is Not Working

Diagnose docking by the last stage that actually worked: clearance, assignment, alignment, or connection.

This separates a communications problem from an approach problem, and both from a broken docking passage.

Symptom	What to Check	Next Action
The station does not appear in communications	Whether you are within ATC contact range and contacting the correct destination	Approach through clear space until the station contact becomes available, then request clearance
ATC responds, but you cannot identify your destination	Whether an assignment marker has appeared and whether it indicates a hangar or docking port	Hold clear of the structures until you can identify the assignment
The marker leads to a hangar instead of a tube	Whether ATC assigned a landing rather than external docking	Land in the assigned hangar
The ship looks aligned, but docking will not engage	Whether the collar, not merely the nose, is centered, and whether the ship is still drifting	Correct orientation and position separately, then make a controlled final approach
Automatic docking does not activate	Whether you have clearance, the correct assignment, an available assist, and the correct binding	Establish those conditions before activating the assist again
Docking is acknowledged, but the corridor is missing or unusable	Whether the physical connection has actually completed	Remain aboard; do not cross a missing passage

If a valid assignment repeatedly fails despite a controlled approach, stop trying to force the hull into the docking structure. Move clear if the ship remains free, establish a fresh ATC assignment, and attempt the approach again. Treat the retry as successful only when both the docking acknowledgment and a usable passage are present.

If the same connection remains unusable, another compatible destination may be the practical option. Record the game build, ship, station, and failure stage if you submit a bug report.

Avoid using an insurance claim as the first remedy for a ship carrying cargo.

How to Undock and Leave the Station

Before departure, make sure everyone who should remain aboard has returned and is clear of the connecting passage.

Return to the pilot seat and restore the power and propulsion needed for departure.
Request departure through the station’s ATC interaction or use the undocking interaction presented by the game.
Wait for the release acknowledgment and confirm that the ship is no longer attached.
Move away along a clear path that separates the ship’s collar from the station connection.
Once the entire hull is clear of the docking structure, turn toward your departure route.

Do not try to pull the ship free while it is still attached. An inability to move before release is not necessarily a propulsion fault.

Once clear of the dock, set your next destination and resume normal flight.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Does Alt+H Do in Star Citizen?

Alt+H requests landing or docking clearance in control layouts that assign it to the landing-request action. It contacts ATC; it does not automatically fly your ship into a docking port. If it does nothing, check the assignment under Options > Keybindings > Advanced Controls Customization, because imported profiles and older guides may use a different shortcut.

Can I Turn Off Automatic Docking?

You can complete a supported docking approach manually instead of engaging automatic docking. If the assist is already active, use the cancellation control shown by your current build or control profile rather than assuming that the landing-request shortcut cancels it. Canceling an assist does not release an already connected ship; that requires undocking.

Does Docking Automatically Store My Ship?

A docking confirmation is not a storage confirmation. If you want the ship stored, verify that storage has completed separately from docking. Do not assume that leaving the pilot seat or walking into the station has put the ship into storage.