Each Apollo spacecraft was equipped with a set of two survival rucksacks. The contents were to be used in the event of an emergency landing in remote areas of the world.

Two survival rucksacks were transferred to the Smithsonian in 1978. Documentation tags attached is several items within these rucksacks indicate that some were carried aboard Apollo 15 in July/August 1971.This rucksack #1 contained a survival radio, a survival light assembly, desalter kits, a machete, sunglasses, water cans, sun lotion, a blanket, a pocket knife, netting and foam pads. Although most of the items were likely used for training, one of the water containers and netting were likely units flown on Apollo 15. The kit itself, in most of the items other items were likely surplus or used in training.