Abstract: The variable structure control method for the closing phase of the space rendezvous and berthing is introduced.The sliding mode is very important in the variable structure control but often designed to the linear relationship of the state variable.In items of the characteristic of the relative motion equations,the nonlinear sliding mode is designed and the stability of the system is proved.Compared with the PID control method,the control accuracy of the variable structure control method is lower than that of PID control method,but the consumption less than that of the PID control method.