At 60 to 80 K large performance gains are possible from high temperatu
re superconducting (HTS) microwave devices for communications applicat
ions. The High Temperature Superconducting Space Experiment II (HTSSE
II) will demonstrate eight HTS experiments in space for up to 3 years
of operation. HTSSE II is the first application of HTS technology to s
pace. In addition to demonstrating HTS devices, an important secondary
goal is to demonstrate the cryogenic technologies required for long l
ife HTS space applications. HTSSE II utilizes a British Aerospace 80 K
Stirling cycle cryocooler to refrigerate a central cryogenic bus of s
even HTS experiments and has an additional stand-alone TRW I-ITS exper
iment cooled by a TRW Stirling cycle cryocooler. The HTSSE II flight u
nit has been assembled and has successfully passed vibration and therm
al vacuum environmental tests. HTSSE II was developed on a fixed budge
t and a fast track schedule of 24 months and is due to launch in March
1997 on the ARGOS spacecraft. This paper presents the design and test
results of the cryogenic subsystem, cryocooler integration and a cryo
genic coaxial cable I/O assembly.