Geological Chronicle
Head crater is a feature in Oceanus Procellarum with a diameter of 0.12 kilometers. The landmark received its informal name because the local crater arrangement resembles a snowman when viewed from the east during landing approach, with the larger Surveyor crater forming the body. Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean landed the Lunar Module Intrepid northeast of the crater on November 19, 1969. The International Astronomical Union formally adopted the name in 1973.
During surface operations, Conrad and Bean documented both rounded and angular blocks scattered across the rim, noting coarse-grained crystals visible in the rocks. The crew dug a shallow trench approximately 15 meters inside the northwest rim to collect soil. This trench yielded soil sample 12033, a ropy glass specimen suggested to originate from Copernicus crater, and sample 12034, a regolith breccia whose distinct composition indicates a distant origin.
The astronauts also gathered hard-rock specimens from opposing sides of the feature, retrieving pigeonite basalt sample 12052 from the west rim and sample 12055 from the north rim. A fragment of sample 12055 is preserved on public display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.