I’m going to be very disappointed if the rockets top out at 65mph.
In: Planetary Science
It takes only 8 minutes to get into orbit.
But to approach the target slowly one has to get into precise spot at a precise time and with the right direction and magnitude of velocity. That is very constraining. Unless one has a lot of fuel to spend on aggressive maneuvering one has to take time for the orbital mechanics to do its work naturally.
In principle, it is certainly possible to dock faster than in 4 hours, and such things had been demonstrated. In 1966, [Gemini XI](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1966-081A), for example, docked after about an hour and a half with a target in orbit.
It is just safer and more convenient to do everything more gradually, with a careful measurement of intermediate trajectory, with testing of the systems before approaching the station, with not putting debris into orbits intersecting the orbit of ISS, etc.
Latest Answers