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

STS-87 carried out the mission USMP-4 (United States Microgravity Payload). The United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-4) is a Spacelab project managed by Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama. The complement of microgravity research experiments is divided between two Mission-Peculiar Experiment Support Structures (MPESS) in the payload bay. The extended mission capability offered by the Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO) kit provides an opportunity for additional science gathering time. Leonid Kadenyuk became the first astronaut from the Ukraine.

The satellite SPARTAN-201-04 was deployed but get then out of control. Winston Scott and Takao Doi captured the satellite with their hands during a not planned EVA on November 24, 1997 (7h 43m). In addition the EVA astronauts tested a new small crane.

The crew performed experiments in the field of materials science and biology (i.e. flame and fluid experiments, experiments with soybeans and moss).

A second (planned) EVA by Winston Scott and Takao Doi was performed on December 02, 1997 (4h 59m). During this EVA the small crane again was tested. For the first time the Autonomous EVA Robotic Camera Sprint (AERCam Sprint) was tested. This camera is in a "ball" and steered with a joystick in the Flight deck and can check every part of a shuttle (and later the ISS).

Two mid-deck experiments were the Middeck Glovbox Payload (MGBX) and the Collaborative Ukrainian Experiment (CUE). While flying separately in the cargo bay, the Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE), sponsored by NASA Lewis Research Center (now Glenn Research Center), is an integral part of USMP-04. It is a highly sensitive instrument designed to acquire and record data of low-level aerodynamic acceleration along the orbiter's principal axes in the free-molecular flow regime at orbital altitudes and in the transition regime during re-entry. OARE data is also downlinked during the mission for near-real-time analysis in support of the USMP science experiments. OARE data will support advances in space materials processing by providing measurements of the low-level, low frequency disturbance environment affecting various microgravity experiments. OARE data will also support advances in orbital drag prediction technology by increasing the understanding of the fundamental flow phenomena in the upper atmosphere.