As I just got started on my classes for my master's degree, I thought

I'd start posting about the most interesting thing I'm learning so far.
That would be orbital mechanics. So here are some basic basics
(borrowing heavily from the textbook To Rise from Earth by Wayne
Lee).

Types of orbits and characteristics

"Kepler's law 2 en" (CC BY-SA 2.0 AT) by Tolifero

Orbits come in different shapes and sizes. In the early 1600s, Kepler
first described orbits as elliptical and, in fact, they all are. We
typically think of them as circular, but this is only a special case. In
reality, every orbit is slightly elliptical. The point at which the
satellite is closest to the Earth is call the perigee and the point at
which it is farthest is called the apogee.

Kepler also observed that the area per time swept out by the arc of
the satellite's orbit is equal across the entire orbit. Translated into
the English: the satellite moves faster during the parts of its orbit
when it is closer to Earth, and moves more slowly the further it is
away.

An orbit that moves from west to east (counter clockwise when

looking down from the north pole) is said to be a "posigrade orbit"
and one moving from east to west is said to be a "retrograde orbit."

Orbital changes

If you ignore effects like atmospheric drag and such, satellites will
generally settle into a stable (elliptical) orbit of some kind. So in
order to give it a new orbit, you have to change its momentum. This
generally utilizes thrusters of some kind. By firing thrusters and
changing the direction of motion, you can bump the satellite from
one orbit to another. Of note, the initial orbit and the final orbit will
always overlap at the burn point.

"Bi-elliptic transfer" (CC BY-SA 4.0) by Adnrew Buck

If you start with a roughly circular posigrade orbit and you initiate a
posigrade burn, you'll increase the satellite's velocity and fling it
farther out into space. The resulting orbit will be elliptical, with the
perigee at the burn point. And because orbits further out are slower,
the resulting elliptical orbit will also be slower (which is counter
intuitive since you increased its velocity with the burn.

Conversely, if you initiate a retrograde burn, you slow the satellite

down and allow it to fall closer to the Earth, which actually makes it
orbit faster. You can also do the opposite to make an elliptical orbit
more circular. Namely if you start with an elliptical orbit and initiate
a posigrade burn at apogee (i.e. speed it up when it is at its
slowest), you can move the satellite onto a circular orbit with the
altitude equal to the apogee of the previous orbit. Or you can initiate
a retrograde burn at perigee (i.e. slow it down when it is at its
fastest) and move the satellite onto a circular orbit with an altitude
equal to the perigee of the previous orbit.

The Hohmann Transfer

"Orbital Hohmann Transfer" (CC BY-SA 3.0) by McZusatz

Typically, you're not trying to get a satellite from a circular orbit
onto an elliptical one. You're trying to get it from one circular orbit
to another, but you cannot do this directly. The simplest (but not the
fastest) way to do this is by utilizing an intermediary elliptical orbit.
To go from a lower altitude circular orbit to a higher one, initiate a
posigrade burn such that the apogee of the new elliptical orbit will
be at the altitude of the desired circular orbit. Once the satellite gets
to apogee, initiate another posigrade burn to circularize the orbit. 

To go from a higher altitude circular orbit to a lower one, do two

retrograde burns (only this time the first burn will then mark the
apogee of the new elliptical orbit, causing the satellite to fall inward
toward the new perigee. Then at perigee give the second retrograde
burn to circularize the orbit). 

Rendezvous maneuvers

I figured I'd end with rendezvous maneuvers. Now you know how to
get from one circular orbit to another. So let's say you're on a
mission to rendezvous with a satellite to fix it. You've made it to the
same orbit as the satellite, but it's 10 minutes ahead of you on the
orbit. How do you catch up? Two key points to remember: 1) a new
orbit will always touch the old orbit at the burn point and 2) a
smaller orbit revolves around the Earth more quickly. 
So in the hypothetical case above, if the orbit I'm on (and that the
satellite is on) takes two hours to revolve around the Earth, I could
initiate a retrograde burn to slow me down and let me fall towards
the Earth in a smaller elliptical orbit. This new orbit will revolve
around the Earth faster and I'll get back to apogee (the burn point)
sooner. If I calculate it out right, I would want this new orbit to take
only 1 hour 50 minutes, so that I arrive at the burn point exactly 10
minutes ahead of when I would have otherwise. At that point, I can
fire a posigrade burn and re-circularize my orbit just in time to meet
up with the satellite.

Paradoxically, you have to slow down in order to catch up. Words

that could be applied to so many aspects of life...