Little West (lunar crater) Little West (lunar crater) Little West is a small crater (30-meter diameter) in Mare Tranquillitatis on the Moon, east of the Apollo 11 landing site known as Tranquility Base. The Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Lunar Module (LM) "Eagle" approximately 60 meters west of Little West Crater on July 20, 1969. This is the crater Neil Armstrong mentions during his final descent onto the lunar surface. The south-west rim of the crater marks the farthest point that either astronaut traveled from the lunar module during their time on the lunar surface for the Apollo 11
Apollo Lunar Module back to the command module. Designed for lunar orbit rendezvous, the Apollo Lunar Module was discarded after completing its misson. It was capable of operation only in outer space; structurally and aerodynamically it was incapable of flight through the Earth's atmosphere. The lunar module was the first manned spacecraft to operate exclusively in the airless vacuum of space. It was the first, and to date only, crewed vehicle to land anywhere beyond Earth. The LM's development was plagued with problems which delayed its first unmanned flight by about ten months, and its first manned flight by about three months. Despite