Starfield Mods Featured

How to Dock Your Ship in Starfield

Dock me in, Scotty!

While traveling through the depths of space and exploring various planets in Starfield, you’re likely to come across several man-made ships or space stations. These are useful on their own, whether it be for infiltrating a hostile ship or exploring a new location, but how you get there can be very confusing. Here’s how to dock your ship in Starfield.

Recommended Videos

How to Dock Into a Space Station or Spaceship in Starfield

Starfield Ship Dock
Image via Prima Games.

How you go about docking your ship in Starfield will vary slightly depending on whether the place you’re trying to dock into is hostile. To dock into a non-hostile place, you’ll want to either press the A button on controller or the E key on PC to switch your active target to the place you’re docking. You may have to press it a few times before it works. From there, come within 500 meters of that ship or space station and hold either the X button on controller or R key on the keyboard to begin docking. This will initiate a quick cutscene before you’re docked into that place.

From there, it’s pretty simple. On the screen, three different buttons should be listed. You’ll either be able to board whatever you’re docked to, undock your ship, or simply get up while in your ship if you don’t want to enter instantly. Hold the listed button to board, and you’re all set.

Related: Starfield Modders Already Planning The First Community Patch

How to Dock to an Enemy Spaceship

If you want to dock into an enemy spaceship in Starfield, you must first disable its engines. This can be done simply by shooting said engines until a red ENG symbol shows up next to their health bar. If you have the Targeting skill under Tech, then you can do this a bit easier. Once those engines are disabled, docking will be possible. From there, you’ll want to follow the same steps as above. Select the ship using the lock-on, get within 500 meters, and press the listed key to dock. Once you’re on board, you’ll have a host of enemies to deal with and items to loot before you get the all clear.

From here, you actually have a few options. After looting the enemy’s corpses along with whatever else is on board, you can choose to leave the ship, undock, and go on your way. If you’re a fan of their cruiser though, you can get into the pilot’s seat and commandeer it. Bringing it back to any city and landing will add the ship to your inventory. Piloting has never been so profitable!

If you’re on the hunt for even more loot, check out our guide on how to get ammo in Starfield.


Prima Games is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy

About the Author

Shawn Robinson

Shawn is a freelance gaming journalist who's been with Prima Games for a year and a half, writing mainly about FPS games and RPGs. He even brings several years of experience at other sites like The Nerd Stash to the table. While he doesn't bring a fancy degree to the table, he brings immense attention to detail with his guides, reviews, and news, leveraging his decade and a half of gaming knowledge. If he isn't writing about games, he's likely getting zero kills in his favorite FPS or yelling at the game when it was 100% his fault that he died.