Editing Apollo 14 (section)

==== Lunar samples ====
[[File:Big Bertha sample 14321.jpg|thumb|right|The "[[Big Bertha (lunar sample)|Big Bertha]]" rock (Lunar Sample 14321) was the third largest rock collected during the Apollo program.]]

A total of {{convert|94|lb}} of Moon rocks, or lunar samples, were brought back from Apollo 14. Most are [[breccia]]s, which are rocks composed of fragments of other, older rocks. Breccias form when the heat and pressure of meteorite impacts fuse small rock fragments together. There were a few basalts that were collected in this mission in the form of clasts (fragments) in breccia. The Apollo 14 basalts are generally richer in aluminum and sometimes richer in potassium than other lunar basalts. Most [[lunar mare]] basalts collected during the Apollo program were formed from 3.0 to 3.8&nbsp;billion years ago. The Apollo 14 basalts were formed 4.0 to 4.3&nbsp;billion years ago, older than the volcanism known to have occurred at any of the mare locations reached during the Apollo program.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/apollo/apollo_14/samples/ |title=Apollo 14 Mission Lunar Sample Overview |publisher=[[Lunar and Planetary Institute]] |format=URL |access-date=March 26, 2019}}</ref>

Some geologists were pleased enough with the close approach to Cone crater to send a case of scotch to the astronauts while they were in post-mission quarantine, though their enthusiasm was tempered by the fact that Shepard and Mitchell had documented few of the samples they brought back, making it hard and sometimes impossible to discern where they came from.{{sfn|Chaikin 1995|pp=377–378}} Others were less happy; [[Don Wilhelms]] wrote in his book on the geological aspects of Apollo, "the golf game did not set well with most geologists in light of the results at Cone crater. The total haul from the rim-flank of Cone&nbsp;... was 16 Hasselblad photographs (out of a mission total of 417), six rock-size samples heavier than 50 g, and a grand total of 10&nbsp;kg of samples, 9&nbsp;kg of which are in one rock ([[Big Bertha (lunar sample)|sample 14321]] [i.e., [[Big Bertha (lunar sample)|Big Bertha]]]). That is to say, apart from 14321 we have less than 1 kg of rock—962 g to be exact—from what in my opinion is the most important single point reached by astronauts on the Moon."{{sfn|Wilhelms 1993|p=254}} Geologist [[Leon Silver|Lee Silver]] stated, "The Apollo 14 crews did not have the right attitude, did not learn enough about their mission, had the burden of not having the best possible preflight photography, and they weren't ready."{{sfn|Phinney 2015|p=112}} In their sourcebook on Apollo, Richard W. Orloff and David M. Harland doubted that if Apollo 13 had reached the Moon, Lovell, and Haise, given a more distant landing point, could have got as close to Cone crater as Shepard and Mitchell did.{{sfn|Orloff & Harland 2006|p=406}}
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In January 2019 research showed that Big Bertha, which weighs {{convert|19.837|lb}}, has characteristics that make it likely to be a terrestrial (Earth) meteorite. Granite and quartz, which are commonly found on Earth but very rarely found on the Moon, were confirmed to exist on Big Bertha. To find the sample's age, the research team from [[Curtin University]] looked at bits of the mineral zircon embedded in its structure. "By determining the age of zircon found in the sample, we were able to pinpoint the age of the host rock at about four billion years old, making it similar to the oldest rocks on Earth," researcher Alexander Nemchin said, adding that "the chemistry of the zircon in this sample is very different from that of every other zircon grain ever analyzed in lunar samples, and remarkably similar to that of zircons found on Earth." This would mean Big Bertha is both the first discovered terrestrial meteorite and the oldest known Earth rock.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Terrestrial-like zircon in a clast from an Apollo 14 breccia |journal=[[Earth and Planetary Science Letters]] |volume=510 |pages=173–185 |doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2019.01.010 |year=2019 |last1=Bellucci |first1=J.J. |last2=Nemchin |first2=A.A. |last3=Grange |first3=M. |last4=Robinson |first4=K.L. |last5=Collins |first5=G. |last6=Whitehouse |first6=M.J. |last7=Snape |first7=J.F. |last8=Norman |first8=M.D. |last9=Kring |first9=D.A. |bibcode=2019E&PSL.510..173B |hdl=10044/1/69314 |s2cid=133957603 |url=http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:nrm:diva-3564 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Gohd|first=Chelsea|url=http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/01/a-moon-rock-collected-by-apollo-14-astronauts-likely-originated-on-earth |title=A lunar rock sample found by Apollo 14 astronauts likely came from Earth |work=Astronomy |access-date=October 1, 2020|date=January 29, 2019|publisher=Kalmbach Media}}</ref>