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

Janice Voss was divorced from Brian D. Ford and that is why she used her maiden name again.

Eileen Collins became the first female Shuttle pilot. The crew deployed the SPARTAN-204 platform and later retrieved it. SPARTAN-204, the Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy, was a free flying retrievable platform. It was designed to obtain data in the far ultraviolet region of the spectrum from diffuse sources of light.

The Discovery performed the first rendezvous maneuver with the MIR space station (11 m distance). The orbiter hold this position 15 minutes and then moved back to 122 meters. The Spacehab module carried 20 experiments: 11 biotechnology experiments, three advanced materials development experiments, four technology demonstrations and two pieces of supporting hardware measuring on-orbit accelerations. Improvements had been made to the SPACEHAB system to reduce demand on crew time. A new video switch had been added to lessen the need for astronaut involvement in video operations, and an experiment interface had been added to the telemetry system to allow the experiment investigator to link directly via computer with the onboard experiment to receive data and monitor status. Charlotte, an experimental robotic device being flown for first time, also reduced crew workload by taking over simple tasks such as changing experiment samples. Other experiments were Cryo Systems Experiment (CSE), the Shuttle Glow (GLO-2) experiment, Orbital Debris Radar Calibration Spheres (ODERACS-2), the Solid Surface Combustion Experiment (SSCE), the Air Force Maui Optical Site Calibration Test (AMOS) and the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX).

The only EVA in this mission was performed by Bernard Harris and Michael Foale on February 09, 1995 (4h 39m), to test modifications in their spacesuits (new thermal devices) and to gain experience in handling large masses in space (SPARTAN satellite).