Surviving on the Moon

Image of the Apollo 11 rucksack open to show the contents of the bag which include three water containers, one radio beacon with spare battery, three pairs of sunglasses, six packages of desalter chemicals, one desalter kit, two survival lights, one machete, and two bottles of sunscreen.

Apollo 11 Rucksack Survival Kit, from National Air and Space Museum collections

This kit is specifically for use in case the astronauts landed away from the planned splashdown area after they returned to Earth. The supplies could be used while they waited for rescue.

Activity Overview

Designed for families with kids ages 8 and up

Astronauts go through survival training to make sure they know what to do in case of emergency during their lunar missions. An important part of their emergency preparedness is to have their survival kits called rucksacks, ready and available.

As part of your Lunar Explorer training, your family will explore what is needed to be prepared for emergencies, and apply this thinking to make a list of survival equipment for moon exploration.

What You'll Need

a piece of paper
something to write with
your thinking brains!

Image of four circles arrange to form a square, with a smiley face in the center of the square. One circle is orange with a white tent icon in the center. One circle is green with a white apple icon in the center. One circle is red with a white speech bubble in the center. The fourth circle is blue with a white water drop icon in the center.

Step 1: What does a human need to survive?

Image of a white bag with many pockets and sleeves that are holding medicine for use in the Apollo Command Module.

Step 2: Identify the Essentials

Step 3: Learn from past missions

Image of a close up of the Moon's surface, with a rock in the center of the image, and an astronaut boot in the upper left hand corner of the image.

Step 4: Plan your own lunar survival kit

Image credits: Second image from left - Apollo 11 Medical Accessory Kit from the Command Module (National Air and Space Museum collections); Second image from right - Apollo 11 Rucksack (National Air and Space Museum collections); Image on right - NASA.

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