A critical component of the Cosmic Background Explorer observatory, which is to be lifted to orbit in 1988, is the 650-l superfluid He dewar housing a far-IR absolute spectrophotometer and a diffuse IR background experiment. Attention is presently given to the results of a four-month-long test program encompassing dewar filling verification, vibration characteristics, thermal performance over orbital lifetime, and aperture cover ejection behavior. No significant flaws have been noted; the orbital cryogen lifetime is projected to be 14 months.
