Launch from Cape Canaveral (KSC); landing on Edwards AFB.

Deploying of the Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) weight: 17,5 t, on flight day 3. Unscheduled EVA by Ross and Apt on 07.04.1991 (4h 24m) to free and deploy the failed GRO high-gain antenna. Second (scheduled) EVA by Ross and Apt on 08.04.1991 (6h 11m) to test to move themselves and equipment for planned ISS. The spacewalk was to test methods of moving crew members and equipment around the future Space Station.

Several other experiments included the Space Station Heat Pipe Advanced Radiator Experiment (SHARE II) and the Bioserve Instrumentation Technology Associates Materials Dispersion Apparatus (BIMDA) to explore the commercial potential of experiments in the biomedical, manufacturing processes and fluid sciences fields, as the SAREX (Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment) and the Protein Crystal Growth experiment.