The Sunrise gondola suspended from a crane during tests of the ability to point the telescope accurately at the sun. The small box with the two black windows on the upper part of the front ring uses sensors to align the telescope with the sun. Launch from the Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden took place in June 2009. The balloon-borne gondola contained the 1-meter solar telescope as well as other instruments on a mission to investigate the structure and dynamics of the Sun's magnetic fields.
