Abstract: It involves some special characteristics to use tether for achieving rendezvous of spacecraft. The application of tether-mediated orbital rendezvous in space is introduced in this paper, focusing on the following three aspects: for space station to rendezvous with spacecraft for obtaining supply or service; for the tethered system to rendezvous with space debris to callback and remove them for keeping a clear space environment; the single-stage or multi-stage tethered system using tether-mediated rendezvous as an orbit transfer system to transfer and carry payload to GEO and Mars orbits. The system design of tether-mediated rendezvous system is also discussed, including the general control methods, algorithms, and structure design. With the development of related technologies, the tether-mediated rendezvous will play more important role in space.