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Apollo 14
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Fra Mauro
3.64530° S latitude, 17.47136° W. longitude
The Apollo 14 landing site was located at
3.65 south latitude 17.47 west longitude, about 30 miles (49.3 km)
north of the Fra Mauro crater--the same site selected for the aborted
Apollo 13 mission.
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Apollo Landing Sites Map
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The hilly region was designated the Fra Mauro
formation, a widespread geological area covering large portions
of the lunar surface around Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains). The 700-mile
(1126 km) wide Mare Imbrium is the largest recognizable impact structure
on the Moon, and is thought to have been formed by a major impact
of a huge mass colliding with the Moon during the period when the
Earth and the planets were forming. The Fra Mauro formation is believed
to be made up of an ejecta blanket thrown out by that impact.
The area is characterized by ridges a few hundred
feet high which radiate from the Imbrium basin seperated by undulating
valleys. The ejecta blanket now is buried by younger rubble and
lunar soil churned up by more recent meteoroid impacts and possible
moonquakes.
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Apollo 14 Landing Site
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Lunar Orbiter Photograph
# 111-133-H2
Apollo 14 Traverses
Medium
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Larger 51k jpeg
Diagram based on Apollo
11, 12, and 14 traverse map prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey
and published by the Defense Mapping Agency for NASA.
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Fra Mauro debris may have come from as deep as 100
miles (161 km) below the original lunar crust, and returned samples provide
evidence of when the Imbrium basin was formed and help to establish the
age and physical/chemical nature of pre-impact material from deep in the
crust.
A recent impact near the landing point formed Cone
crater, nearly 1,000 feet (305 m) across and 250 feet (76 m) deep, with
large blocks of original Imbrium material around the crater rim. Shepard
and Mitchell climbed Cone crater's gently sloping outer wall to photograph
the crater's interior and chip samples from the boulders around the edge.
The Fra Mauro formation became more interesting to
scientists when the Apollo 12 seismometer
at Surveyor crater 110 miles (177 km) to the west relayed to Earth signals
of monthly moonquakes believed to have originated in the Fra Mauro crater
as the Moon passed through its perigee.
The Fra Mauro crater and surrounding formation take
their names from a 15th century Italian monk and mapmaker, who in 1457
mapped the then-known Mediterranean world with suprising accuracy.
From Apollo 14 Press Kit.
See also: Apollo Landing Sites
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