SUMMARYIn this paper, an adaptive, output feedback control design methodology is presented for a spacecraft formation flying (SFF) system. A Lagrangian derivation of the SFF model is considered to produce position dynamics for follower spacecraft #n relative to follower spacecraft #ðn À 1Þ, where n is an arbitrary positive integer, assuming that the leader spacecraft in the formation follows a no-thrust, natural, elliptical orbit. Next, a control law is designed to provide a filtered velocity measurement and a desired adaptive compensation with semi-global, asymptotic, relative position tracking. To show the efficacy of the control algorithm, all desired trajectories are generated online by numerically solving the unperturbed nonlinear SFF dynamics with initial conditions satisfying a no-thrust, natural orbit constraint equation. The proposed control law is simulated for the case of two and three spacecraft and is shown to yield semiglobal, asymptotic tracking of the relative position in addition to the convergence of disturbance parameter estimates.