Cone (crater)

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Cone
Cone crater M157709871LC.jpg
LRO Narrow Angle Camera image. The astronaut tracks are visible as dark lines south of the crater rim.
Coordinates 3°37′S17°26′W / 3.62°S 17.43°W / -3.62; -17.43 Coordinates: 3°37′S17°26′W / 3.62°S 17.43°W / -3.62; -17.43
Diameter 330 m [1]
Eponym Astronaut-named feature

Cone crater is a small crater in the Fra Mauro highlands, north of Fra Mauro crater, on the Moon. The name of the crater was formally adopted by the IAU in 1973. [1]

The Apollo 14 astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell landed the Lunar Module (LM) Antares southwest of Cone crater on February 5, 1971. During the descent, Cone crater was a major landmark. Sampling ejecta from Cone was a primary scientific goal of the mission, as Cone would have penetrated the lunar regolith (soil) and brought some of the Fra Mauro Formation to the surface. The Fra Mauro Formation is interpreted as ejecta from the Imbrium impact event - an important time-stratigraphic marker in lunar history. The astronauts attempted to reach Cone on their second EVA, and came very close to it and sampled the ejecta. But due to confusing topography they never reached the rim of the crater. [2]

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Fra Mauro (crater)

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Gambart (crater)

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Apollo (crater)

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Mons Hadley

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Shorty (crater)

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Palmetto (crater)

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Spur (lunar crater)

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Dune (crater)

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Elbow (lunar crater)

Elbow is a feature on Earth's Moon, a crater in the Hadley–Apennine region. Astronauts David Scott and James Irwin visited the east rim of it in 1971, on the Apollo 15 mission, during EVA 1. The east rim of Elbow was designated Geology Station 1 of the mission. Geology Station 2 was to the southwest of the crater, up the slope of Mons Hadley Delta.

St. George (crater)

St. George is a feature on Earth's Moon, a crater in the Hadley–Apennine region. Astronauts David Scott and James Irwin drove their rover onto what was suspected to be its ejecta blanket in 1971, on the Apollo 15 mission, during EVA 1. They collected samples to the northeast of the crater, at Geology Station 2 of the mission.

Cinco (crater)

Cinco is a small crater in the Descartes Highlands of the Moon visited by the astronauts of Apollo 16. The crater is one of a group of five craters that were collectively called the Cinco craters during the Apollo 16 mission. The craters were designated a, b, c, d, and e, and the largest (a) was officially named Cinco after the mission in 1973 by the IAU.

Big Bertha (lunar sample)

Lunar Sample 14321, better known as "Big Bertha", is a lunar sample containing an embedded Earth-origin meteorite collected on the 1971 Apollo 14 mission. It was found in the Fra Mauro region of the Moon, and the embedded meteorite portion is the oldest known Earth rock. At 8.998 kg (19.837 lb) this breccia rock is the third largest Moon sample returned during the Apollo program, behind Big Muley and Great Scott.

References

  1. 1 2 Cone, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)
  2. Apollo 14 Preliminary. Science Report, NASA Special Publication 272 (SP-272), 1971. Prepared by NASA Manned Spacecraft Center. Scientific and Technical information Office, Washington, D.C.