The Flickr Bicentennialemblem Image Generatr

“The thermal-control model of the Viking orbiter mated to the lander thermal-effects simulator was used in August 1973 to verify the effects solar radiation would have on the spacecraft. The science platform with imaging system and other instruments is attached under the orbiter.”

Above at/from, associated with – although somebody forgot to number it – “Plate” 198:

history.nasa.gov/SP-4212/ch6.html

Specifically, since it looks to be the same item:

history.nasa.gov/SP-4212/p198.jpg

Tangential/peripheral; however, to me, really interesting/impressive & highly informative:

www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=7324&...
Credit: Tom Dahl/Planetary Society (Unmanned Spaceflight) website

“This artist’s symbolic representation of the United States Viking mission to Mars shows the spacecraft against a backdrop of the Red Planet. Vikings 1 and 2 were launched toward Mars in August and September 1975 to conduct a detailed examination of the planet, including a search for life. Viking will reach Mars on June 19, and its lander will descend to the surface about July 4. The second Viking will arrive at the planet on Aug. 7, with Lander 2 descending during the first week in September.”

The photo is oriented with Martian north toward the top.

Note the "attitude control gas jets" at the ends of the solar arrays.

A rarely seen (by me at least) depiction of a Viking orbiter/lander configuration inflight. Featured as the cover for NASA news release no. 76-116, “VIKING PRESS HANDBOOK”, which I don’t recall. Good stuff in it:

ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19760019036...

In color:

www.fourth-millennium.net/space-exploration/viking-missio...
Credit: Fourth Millennium website/Corby Waste

archive.org/details/C-1977-534

ia800207.us.archive.org/24/items/C-1977-534/1977_00534.jpg
Both above credit: Internet Archive website

No signature visible. Although too simplistic/myopic of an association, it being Viking, possibly by Charles O. Bennett? Paul Fjeld maybe? I'm pretty sure it's not by Don Davis, the other prominent Viking spacecraft artist/illustrator of the time. Nor Jim Butcher...and I have no idea who else there was.

“VIKING SPACECRAFT: The mating of the Orbiter and Lander elements of the Viking spacecraft is shown at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Two Vikings will be launched on August 11 and August 21 from Cape Canaveral Fla., and are scheduled to arrive at Mars in July, 1976. The Lander elements of each spacecraft will soft-land on the planet’s surface and test for signs of life.”

As expected, identification of which pair this is, at multiple NASA & similarly ‘official’ and (one would think) knowledgeable sites…is ambiguous, inconclusive, and even contradictory. However - IF CORRECT - three separate NASA “Photography Index” publications, from 1981, 1983 & 1987, identify this photograph as being of Viking 1. Of course, if the identification in the initial publication is wrong, which is possible, then I'd expect the erroneous identification to be blindly propagated year after year.
Per SP-4212, “On Mars: Exploration of the Red Planet. 1958-1978”, the Viking 1 spacecraft were mated 8 March 1975.

1981, page 195:

ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820024318...
Credit: NTRS website

1983:

books.google.com/books?id=GO1TAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA111&l...

1987:

books.google.com/books?id=9tdzs8kCUbkC&pg=PA111&l...

Both above credit: Google books website

It's always disappointing when the only place I seem to be able to find a mere digital image of a PUBLIC DOMAIN photograph is at one of the multiple money grubbing historical photo sites, for a preposterous amount of money. Just a wild guess that the following is one of them. And...if you want the image bad enough, you first have to create an account & login before being bent over, again, for a public domain image...WOW:

www.granger.com/results.asp?image=0185391&itemw=4&amp...
Credit: Granger Historical Picture Archive website

Circa 1976 artist's concept depicting space shuttle VAB processing. How does zero stars on the U.S. flag - ESPECIALLY around the time of the Bicentennial - get through any pre-print QC, even if cursory or performed by a buffoon?
Interesting, a rail line leading into the VAB, apparently for transport of SRB segments.

Very nice artwork by A. Miranda. Not quite Don Mackey level, but nice nonetheless.

science.ksc.nasa.gov/facilities/vab.html

“America’s Bicentennial emblem, stored for more than a year on Viking Orbiter 1’s tape recorder and carried from Earth to Mars, was transmitted back to Earth today over a distance of more than 203 million miles. The picture was taken June 12, 1975, by one of the Orbiter’s two TV cameras during pre-launch test activities at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Viking 1 was launched August 20, 1975, and went into orbit around Mars on June 19, 1976. The red, white and blue star symbol of the United States’ two centuries as a nation was recorded three time--through red, green and violet filters. All three frames were played back to Earth and have been reconstructed into the color picture. They were received at the Deep Space Network station at Canberra, Australia, and relayed to the Viking Mission Control and Computing Center at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. The Bicentennial emblem will be carried to the surface of Mars on the body of the Viking Lander on July 17. The Viking Project is managed by the NASA Langley Research Center of Hampton, Virginia. The Orbiter was designed and built by JPL.”