The CALIPSO spacecraft is shown here being lowered onto a platform that is used to stabilize the satellite while it is in the clean room. The "payload" or the part of the spacecraft that holds the instruments, is the portion of the satellite in this picture just below the large black cylinder at the top. This large cylinder is the telescope. The white square below the telescope in the foreground is the lidar, and to the right of the lidar is the Imaging Infrared Radiometer (IIR) which is surrounded in gold thermal foil.