Cone (crater)
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.
The Apollo 14 astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell landed the Lunar Module 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 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.
The geologic station C1 is at the cluster of boulders called White Rocks, close to the south rim of the crater. Station C' is to the southeast of C1 along the rim of a small, unnamed crater. Stations C2, B2, B3 and Dg are to the southwest of Cone but within its continuous ejecta blanket. Also to the southwest is a small crater informally named Flank.
Lunar geologist Don Wilhelms stated that the ejecta of Cone "in my opinion is the most important single point reached by astronauts on the Moon." He was disappointed in the low amount of time spent by the astronauts collecting samples and documenting the boulders, particularly at station C1, the most likely representation of the Fra Mauro Formation.