The Stratospheric Aerosol Measurement 1 (SAM 1) instrument flew on the 1976 Apollo-Soyuz mission. It served as a proof-of-concept for a series of follow-on scientific instruments that studied the role of small particles (aerosols) over the Earth's polar regions, including those generated by human activity. Such data provided better understanding of the atmosphere as a physical system.
SAM 1 initiated a line of research that helped gather data on and model the ozone hole over the Antarctic. Operated by Apollo-Soyuz astronauts, SAM 1 was returned to Earth and subsequently transferred from NASA to the Museum in 2017.
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Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Langley Research Center