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

Salman Al-Saud became the first astronaut from Saudi Arabia. The crew successful deployed the three communications satelites Morelos-1 (Mexico), Arabsat-1B (ASCO, the Arab League) and Telstar-3D (AT&T).

They used the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) to deploy and later retrieve the SPARTAN 1-01 satellite which performed 17 hours of x-ray astronomy research while separated from the Space Shuttle. In addition, the crew activated for the first time the Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (ADSF), a materials processing furnace, six Get Away Special canisters with experiments in Earth observation, medicine, biology, astronomy. Two French biomedical experiments were carried out. The crew also conducted a laser tracking experiment, the High Precision Tracking Experiment, as part of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).