Clavius Base is located in the Clavius crater, due south of Tycho. According to the novel, the base was finished in 1994 by the United States Astronautical Engineering Corps. If necessary, the base can be self-sustaining. In the film, the base features some surface features, such as a landing pad, control tower, and ancillary support structures, but the vast majority of the base is located beneath the Lunar surface to protect it from micro-meteoroid impacts and solar radiation. Incoming spacecraft set down on a landing platform beneath a dome which opens as the vessel descends. The landing platform is part of an enormous elevator, which lowers the spacecraft into a cavernous docking bay.