Named in honor of academician Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kotel’nikov {1908– }, Soviet scientist, radio engineer and vice-president of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences. Radar observations of Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter conducted under his supervision were of help in correcting the value of the astronomical unit, in determining the period and the direction of the rotation of Venus, and in understanding the physics and dynamics of these planets. (M 9214) _ _.