Sikorsky is a crater on the far side of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

. It is situated behind the southeastern limb of the

, just out of sight from the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

. It lies to the northwest of the huge walled plain Schrödinger. To the northwest is the smaller crater Moulton. In 1967 the

Lunar Orbiter 4 Lunar Orbiter 4 was a robotic U.S. spacecraft, part of the Lunar Orbiter program, Lunar Orbiter Program, designed to orbit the Moon, after the three previous orbiters had completed the required needs for Project Apollo, Apollo mapping and site s ...

photographed this region in high resolution, discovering a 310-km-long gouge cutting through the middle of Sikorsky. This linear formation is radial to Schrödinger and has since been named the Vallis Schrödinger. This is a heavily eroded crater formation with a rim that has been worn and rounded by a long history of lesser impacts. In addition to the wide valley mentioned above, there is a lesser cleft that cuts into the eastern rim from the south-southeast. There are also small craterlets along the rim to the east, northeast, and northwest. Discounting the valley that bisects the floor, the interior surface is relatively level and featureless, with only a few tiny craterlets to mark the surface. At nearly the exact midpoint of the floor, and intruding into the western side of the Vallis Schrödinger, is the almost perfectly bowl-shaped satellite crater Sikorsky Q. The crater is named after Igor Sikorsky, a

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n- American

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

pioneer.

Satellite craters

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Sikorsky.

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend Impact craters on the Moon