Day 33, 4/27/09 -- Cryostat and gondola, together again for the first time.

The big news today is that we got the cryostat installed on the gondola. We had done it before, last year at our pre-flight integration at Columbia's Nevis lab, but now it's for real.

All in all, it was a pretty smooth process. Since we've done it before once, we knew what to expect, and it took only a little bit longer than I predicted (four hours instead of three, start to finish). We then started the process of aligning our mirror mounts, installing detector readout electronics on the gondola, and just general "get it working"-ness.

Also, with the cryostat on the gondola, we were able to clear up a ton of floor space in the high bay, which we'll need when we do full telescope tests with our 'artificial planet'.

Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/asad137/EBEXInNewMexico042709#