Javier Masini, CVS, CSSBB, CPCE

LOST ON THE MOON

Image Credit: NASA.GOV

Apollo 8: Earthrise. Taken aboard Apollo 8 by Bill Anders, this iconic picture shows Earth peeking out from beyond the lunar surface as the first crewed spacecraft circumnavigated the Moon, with astronauts Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell aboard.

Lost on the Moon Activity

Based on an activity developed by NASA

Your spacecraft has just crash-landed on the lighted side of the moon. You were scheduled to rendezvous with the mother ship 200 miles away on the surface of the moon, but the rough landing has ruined your craft and destroyed all the equipment on board, except for the 15 items listed below. 


Your crew’s survival depends on reaching the mother ship, so you must choose the most critical items available for the 200-mile trip. Your task is to rank the 15 items in terms of their importance for survival. Place a 1 by the most important item, a 2 by the second-most important item, and so on through 15, the least important.

  • Box of matches

  • Food concentrate

  • 50 feet of nylon rope

  • Parachute silk

  • A solar-powered portable heating unit

  • Two .45-caliber pistols

  • Case of dehydrated milk

  • Two 100-pound tanks of oxygen

  • Stellar map of the moon’s constellation

  • Self-inflating life raft

  • Magnetic compass

  • 5 gallons of water

  • Signal flares

  • First-aid kit with injection needles

  • Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter

  • You can click on the picture below to record your rankings in column B.
  • You can also download a PDF version of the table and work on it  [Download]

After you complete your ranking...

  •  
  • Additional activity 1: Do you wish to share your answers with our team? We track some anonymous statistics. Share your ranking here. 
  •  
  • Additional activity 2: Find a team of colleagues and discuss a Team's version of the ranking. Record the team's response in column C. Was it different from yours?
  •  
  • Additional activity 3: Watch the video "The Paradox of Value" shown below. 
  •  
  • Lost on the Moon is a good example of the importance of UTILITY in decision making, explained by the Paradox of Value presented by Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations. The video is from a Lesson developed by Akshita Agarwal (available here), and the animation is by Qa'ed Mai.