Apollo Emergency Salt Remover

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.

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

Apollo Survival Light

 

Photo Credit: Michael Kulp
Location: US Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, AL
Date: March 1 2019

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.

Combination Survival-Light Assembly

The combination survival-light assembly provided an almost Swiss-army-level of gadgetry for astronauts in a survival situation.

It was a lightweight, hand-held unit used for visual signaling. It was made of grey-painted steel with brass fittings, and was made for NASA by ACR Electronics.

This one item included a strobe light, a flashlight, and a signal mirror. But wait! There's more: it also included a siren whistle, a compass, fire starters, cotton balls, halogen tablets, a water receptacle, knife blades, needles, nylon cord, and fishhooks.

NASA Technical Note TN D-6737 says:

"The combination survival light was developed for use in the Gemini Program. It satisfies the Apollo postlanding requirements. This item, intended for use during an emergency postlanding situation, has not been required during any mission. However, postflight testing demonstrated that the units remain functional."

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/survival-light-combination-rucksack-1-apollo-11:nasm_A19980011001