The refrigerator of a cryopump is positioned within an insulating vacuum and the two stages of the refrigerator are selectively thermally coupled to first and second stage cryopanels. After initial rough pumping by an air ejector, rough pumping is completed during startup by coupling the cold first stage of the refrigerator to a first stage adsorption cryopanel. The second stage of the refrigerator is thereafter coupled to the second stage cryopanel. Thermal coupling of the refrigerator to the cryopanels is by means of spring biased thermal contacts brought into position by movement of the refrigerator. The thermal contact elements are provided with sufficiently large thermal masses to handle the large thermal loads of system startup.