Launch from Cape Canaveral (KSC); landing on Edwards AFB. The launch was delayed one hour due to weather constraints.

Manley L. Carter, was originally assigned to fly as a Mission Specialist for this mission, but died seven months prior the launch.

This mission was the first flight of the International Microgravity Laboratory IML-1. This was a pressurized manned Spacelab module, to explore in depth the complex effects of weightlessness on living organisms and materials processing. The international crew, divided into Red (David Hilmers, William Readdy and Ulf Merbold) and Blue (Ronald Grabe, Stephen Oswald, Norman Thagard and Roberta Bondar) teams, conducted experiments on the human nervous system's adaptation to low gravity and the effects of microgravity on other life forms such as shrimp eggs, lentil seedlings, fruit fly eggs and bacteria. Low gravity materials processing experiments included crystal growth from a variety of substances such as enzymes, mercury iodine and a virus. Other payloads included 10 Get Away Special (GAS) canisters, a number of middeck payloads and two Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP) experiments. Middeck payloads included Gelation of SOLS: Applied microgravity research (GOSAMR), Investigations into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP) and the Radiation Monitoring Experiment (RME-III).

The crew explored the complex effects of weightlessness on living organism and materials processing.They performed 55 experiments on the areas of life sciences, low gravity materials processing and fluid-physics. Stephen Oswald made a movie from the surface of Africa and Europe; this movie should be used for the movie "Destiny in Space".

To complete all scientific experiments the mission was extended one day.