Geological Chronicle
Located in Mare Tranquillitatis, Little West is a small crater with a 30m diameter positioned east of Tranquility Base. Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Lunar Module Eagle approximately 60 meters west of the crater on July 20, 1969. Armstrong mentioned the crater during his final descent onto the lunar surface, though no visit to a crater had been planned for the landing.
The south-west rim of Little West marked the farthest point either astronaut traveled from the Lunar Module during their time on the lunar surface. Armstrong observed rocks at the center of the crater but did not enter the crater to sample them. Images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2009 showed Armstrong's tracks leading to the crater.
The crater received its name due to its location along the Lunar Module's flight path near West Crater, a much larger, football-field-sized feature. At the time of Apollo 11, directions on the Moon were described from the perspective of an observer on Earth, so the feature was named Little West even though it sits east of the landing site on modern maps. For years, the feature was also called East Crater in the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal. The name was officially approved by the IAU on July 26, 2017.