This artifact is a 1/4 scale model of the Pioneer 6 interplanetary spacecraft. Pioneer 6 was launched 16 December 1965, into an orbit between Earth and Venus. Like the other Sun-orbiting Pioneers launched before it, its mission was to study and survey interplanetary space and increase understanding of the solar wind.
Pioneers 6-9, launched between 1965 and 1968, used multiple spacecraft to study interplanetary space continuously over the course of an entire solar cycle (an 11-month period) from widely separated points in the solar system. They were the first solar satellite weather network.
This model was transferred to the Museum in 1975.
This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.