Geological Chronicle
Located in the high northern latitudes on the Moon's far side, Mezentsev is an impact crater spanning 84.51 kilometers in diameter. It lies just to the west of the smaller Niepce, with the larger Stebbins to the southwest, Hippocrates to the west-southwest, and Heymans to the northwest.
Mezentsev is a worn and eroded crater with a low outer rim and a relatively level interior. Although the circular nature of the rim can still be seen, a number of impacts lie across the rim and its edge is generally softened and rounded. A smaller, unnamed crater is attached to the southwestern rim, with the satellite crater Mezentsev S laid across the western rim of this feature.
The interior floor is roughly level but marked by small craterlets across the surface. The most prominent of these is a fresh, cup-shaped crater in the western half of the interior. Named for Soviet rocket scientist Yurij Borisovich Mezentsev, the crater has been labelled 'Mesentsev' on some maps.