The invention discloses a saturated sliding mode variable structure control method for rapidly maneuvering attitudes of satellites. The saturated sliding mode variable structure control method includes steps of 1, acquiring current attitudes of the satellites and acquiring attitude errors of the current attitudes of the satellites relative to target attitudes; 2, determining bandwidths, damping coefficients, the maximum torque of actuating mechanisms, torque regulation coefficients and fundamental frequencies of flexible accessories, and computing control parameters for rapidly maneuvering the attitudes of the satellites; 3, computing saturated sliding mode surfaces of the satellites in rolling directions and computing linear sliding mode surfaces of the satellites in pitching and yawing directions; 4, acquiring control torque by means of computation; 5, acquiring corresponding control instructions for the actuating mechanisms by the aid of the control torque acquired in the step 4, transmitting the instructions to the corresponding actuating mechanisms and controlling the actuating mechanisms to rapidly maneuver the attitudes of the satellites. The saturated sliding mode variable structure control method has the advantages that the method is simple and reliable and is low in computational complexity, the satellites can be rapidly maneuvered and stabilized by the aid of the saturated sliding mode variable structure control method, accordingly, the attitude maneuvering time can be shortened, and the saturated sliding mode variable structure control method is obviously superior to other methods.