For emergency landings, survival equipment was provided to support Apollo astronauts for up to three days.
The survival items were in two rucksacks made of Armalon, a Teflon-coated glass fabric. They included numerous items like a raft, a radio and beacon transceiver, three water containers, a machete, a desalter kit, sunglasses, and combination survival lights.
The survival items were in two rucksacks made of Armalon, a Teflon-coated glass fabric. They included numerous items like a raft, a radio and beacon transceiver, three water containers, a machete, a desalter kit, sunglasses, and combination survival lights.
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| Photo Credit: Michael Kulp Location: US Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, AL Date: March 1 2019 |
Desalter Kit
Humans cannot drink seawater, so Apollo astronauts had a special kit that turned salt water into drinking water.
The desalter kit was a standard off-the-shelf Department of Defense (DOD) survival item for military crews.
It consisted of two processing bags, eight chemical packets, and mending tape. The chemical packets were designed to be used in conjunction with the processing bags. The processing bags were plastic with a filter at the bottom.
Each chemical packet could produce one pint of drinking water. Eight chemical packets could produce one gallon of drinking water.
The water was processed by mixing sea water and a chemical packet for an hour. The mixture was then filtered through a valve in the bottom of the bag.
The Apollo requirements were tough on flammable materials, so the standard DOD mending tape was replaced with fiberglass tape.
Sources:
[1] NASA Technical Note TN D-6737, Fred A. McAllister, March 1972, https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/tnD6737%20-%20CrewProvisnsEquip.pdf
[2] National Air and Space Museum; https://www.si.edu/object/chemicals-desalinization-rucksack-1-apollo:nasm_A19781452006
Each chemical packet could produce one pint of drinking water. Eight chemical packets could produce one gallon of drinking water.
The water was processed by mixing sea water and a chemical packet for an hour. The mixture was then filtered through a valve in the bottom of the bag.
The Apollo requirements were tough on flammable materials, so the standard DOD mending tape was replaced with fiberglass tape.
Sources:
[1] NASA Technical Note TN D-6737, Fred A. McAllister, March 1972, https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/tnD6737%20-%20CrewProvisnsEquip.pdf
[2] National Air and Space Museum; https://www.si.edu/object/chemicals-desalinization-rucksack-1-apollo:nasm_A19781452006
