In case of a landing outside the primary landing area, Mercury astronauts carried a variety of survival equipment aboard their spacecraft. These included among other things, food, water, knives, rope, matches, medical supplies, a radio transceiver, a compass, a rescue beacon, a radar reflector, a life vest, and a life raft. This rescue strobe light was part of the survival kit in Freedom 7, the first Mercury mission, in which Alan Shepard became the first American in space. It could be used to make seawater drinkable.
NASA transferred Freedom 7 to the Smithsonian in 1962. This object was found inside the spacecraft in 1977.
This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.