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

STS-83 carried out the mission "Microgravity Science Lab 1 (MSL)". MSL was a collection of microgravity experiments housed inside a European Spacelab Long Module (LM). MSL featured 19 materials science investigations in 4 major facilities. These facilities were the Large Isothermal Furnace, the EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments to the Space Station (EXPRESS) Rack, the Electromagnetic Containerless Processing Facility (TEMPUS) and the Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures (CSLM) facility, the Droplet Combustion Experiment (DCE) and the Combustion Module-1 Facility.

The mission was aborted due of a fuel-cell failure (third Minimum Duration Mission in the Shuttle history). Originally the mission was scheduled to last 15 - 16 days. The experiments were only performed on a small level.

The reflight of the scientific important STS-83 flight was STS-94, which happened about three months after this mission.