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

Eileen Collins became the first female Shuttle pilot. The crew deployed the SPARTAN-204 platform and later retrieved it. The Far Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph instrument studied celestial targets in the interstellar medium, the gas and dust which fills the space between the stars and which is the material from which new stars and planets are formed.

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. Several experiments in Spacehab module: 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).

EVA by Harris and Foale on 09.02.1995 (4h 39m), to test modifications in their spacesuits (new thermal devices) and to gain experience in handling large masses in space (SPARTAN-satellite).