Bench crater is a small crater in

Mare Cognitum Mare Cognitum (Latin ''cognitum'', the "Sea that has Become Known") is a lunar mare located in a basin or large crater which sits in the second ring of Oceanus Procellarum. To the northwest of the mare is the Montes Riphaeus mountain range, par ...

on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

. The name of the crater was formally adopted by the

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in 1973. The

Apollo 12 Apollo 12 (November 14–24, 1969) was the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. It was launched on November 14, 1969, by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Commander Pete Conra ...

astronauts

Pete Conrad Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. (June 2, 1930 – July 8, 1999) was an American NASA astronaut, aeronautical engineer, naval officer and aviator, and test pilot, and commanded the Apollo 12 space mission, on which he became the third person to ...

and

Alan Bean Alan LaVern Bean (March 15, 1932 – May 26, 2018) was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, NASA astronaut and painter; he was the fourth person to walk on the Moon. He was selected to become an astron ...

landed the

Lunar Module The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed ...

(LM) ''Intrepid'' northeast of Bench crater on November 24, 1969. To the northeast of Bench are the larger

Head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

and

Surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

craters. To the west is

Sharp Sharp or SHARP may refer to: Acronyms * SHARP (helmet ratings) (Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme), a British motorcycle helmet safety rating scheme * Self Help Addiction Recovery Program, a charitable organisation founded in 19 ...

crater (now called Sharp-Apollo). The crater is called ''Bench'' because of perceived terraces ( benches) within the crater. A wide area on the west side of the crater was referred to as "low bench" and a smaller area on the east side was referred to as "high bench" during mission planning.''Apollo 12 Preliminary Science Report'' (NASA SP-235), 1970
link
Bench crater AS12-49-7223-7225-7227

Samples

File:AS12-49-7236 (21657254906).jpg, Sample 12035 location File:AS12-49-7234 (21495489838).jpg, This shows sample 12053, an angular fragment collected from the northwest rim of Bench crater

References

{{reflist Impact craters on the Moon Apollo 12