In article , Michael R.
Grabois ... change $ to "s" wrote:

http://www.geocities.com/wizardimps/smithsonian2.jpg
As near as I can tell, this is a mockup, replica, or test article for Mariner
3&4 (when you compare it to the photo at the Encyclopedia Astronautica at
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/marner34.htm). I searched the NASM site
(http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/space/space.html) and it doesn't list a
Mariner 3 or 4, only a 2 and a 10 (since removed). Anyone know any more?

It's certainly not a Mariner 2 replica - too many solar panels, if
nothing else - and doesn't look like Mariner 10 either. Not that it
would, in '65...

The picture's not a wonderful match to the astronautix one, but I've a
copy of a line drawing at about that angle and it matches v. well (it's
hard to see details on the bit sticking up, but the rest is a dead cert
and that looks about right).

So, yeah, Mariner 3 or 4. Given 3 was a failure, probably intended as a
replica of 4.

Googling, there's Mariner 4 replicas at the Michigan Space &
Science*Center (in Jackson) and the California Science Center (in LA).
Perhaps it ended up at one of these?

--
-Andrew Gray