Fra Mauro formation
![Oblique view of Fra Mauro taken from lunar orbit on the Apollo 12 mission.](/Images/godic/202501/14/Fra_Mauro_formation0654.jpg")
![Photograph taken on Apollo 14 showing a cluster of boulders near the rim of Cone crater. Note the layering on some of the larger boulders.](/Images/godic/202501/14/Apollo_14_cone_crater_boulders0654.jpg")
![Geologic map of an area of the formation (Click to enlarge and see color key).](/Images/godic/202501/14/FraMauroformationmap0654.jpg")
![Panorama of the Apollo 14 landing site taken in 1971.](/Images/godic/202501/14/Apollo_14_landing_site_panorama0654.jpg")
The Fra Mauro formation (or Fra Mauro Highlands) is a selenological formation on the near side of Earth's Moon that served as the landing site for the American Apollo 14 mission in 1971. It is named after the 80-kilometer-diameter crater Fra Mauro, located within it. The formation, as well as Fra Mauro crater, take their names from a 15th-century Italian monk and mapmaker of the same name. Apollo 13 was originally scheduled to land in the Fra Mauro highlands, but was unable to due to an in-flight technical failure.