Geological Chronicle
Von Kármán is an impact crater in the southern hemisphere on the lunar far side, measuring 186.35 kilometers in diameter within the South Pole–Aitken basin. Its northern third is overlain by the outer rampart of the walled plain Leibnitz, creating a deep indentation while the rest of the rim remains worn and irregular from subsequent impacts.
Flooding by lava flows after the crater formed left the southern portion of the floor nearly flat, with a lower albedo than the surrounding terrain. A central peak near the midpoint of the formation matches an olivine-bearing noritic gabbro mineralogy that originated from a depth of 18.0 to 30.3 kilometers.
On January 3, 2019, the Chinese spacecraft Chang'e 4 landed inside the crater, completing the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon. The following month, the International Astronomical Union approved the name Statio Tianhe for the landing site and designated the central peak Mons Tai.