Launch from Cape Canaveral (KSC); landing on Edwards AFB; ISS LF1/MPLM 2-03. It was the first shuttle launch since 907 days.

STS-114 marked the return to flight of the Space Shuttle after the Columbia disaster and was the second Shuttle flight with a female commander (Eileen Collins).

Following a two days solo flight the Discovery docked with the ISS on July 28, 2005. In the next eight days the crew performed common work with the ISS expedition 11. The STS-114 mission delivered supplies to the International Space Station. However, the major focus of the mission was testing and evaluating new Space Shuttle flight safety techniques, which included new inspection and repair techniques. The crewmembers used the new Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) - a set of instruments on a 50-foot (15 m) extension attached to the Canadarm.

STS-114 was classified as Logistics Flight 1. The flight carried the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, built by the Italian Space Agency. Also the External Stowage Platform-2, mounting that to the port side of the Quest Airlock. They deployed MISSE-5 to the station's exterior, and replaced one of the ISS's Control Moment Gyroscopes. The CMG and a TPS Repair Box were carried up on the LMC at the rear of the payload bay.

The first EVA by Stephen Robinson and Soichi Noguchi occured on July 30, .2005 (6h 50m) for testing thermal protection system repair techniques and installation of the External Stowage Platform-2 Attachment Device (ESPAD) on the space station.

On July 30, 2005, NASA announced that STS-114 would be extended for one day.

The second EVA was performed by Stephen Robinson and Soichi Noguchi on August 01, 2005 (7h 14m) to replace a failed International Space Station attitude control gyroscope.

The third and final EVA by Stephen Robinson and Soichi Noguchi was conducted on August 03, 2005 (6h 01m) to attach a massive external tool box to the space station's Quest airlock module, mounting an experiment package on the top of the station's solar array truss, and remove two "gap fillers" sticking up between heat shield tiles on Discovery's belly.

The mission was extended for another day due of bad weather in Florida and was diverted to the Edwards AFB.