Launch from Cape Canaveral (KSC); landing on Cape Canaveral (KSC). The launch was scrubbed on December 01, 1998 due to technical problems.

STS-88 carried out the first USA Space Station Assembly Flight (ISS-01-2A). The U.S. built Node (Unity) docked with the Russian built FGB (Zarya). To begin the assembly sequence, the crew conducted a series of rendezvous maneuvers similar to those conducted on other Shuttle missions to reach the orbiting FGB. On the way, Nancy Currie used the Shuttle's robot arm to place Node 1 atop the Orbiter Docking System. Robert Cabana completed the rendezvous by flying Endeavour to within 35 feet (10 m) of the FGB, allowing Nancy Currie to capture the FGB with the robot arm and place it on the Node's Pressurized Mating Adapter.

Jerry Ross and James Newman performed then two EVAs on December 07, 1998 (7h 21m) and December 09, 1998 (7h 2m) to connect cables between the Node and the FGB.

Then Robert Cabana and Sergei Krikalyov turned over for the first time into the ISS. The third and final EVA was performed by Jerry Ross and James Newman on December 12, 1998 (6h 59m) to check the connected cables und to test the SAFER.

Other payloads on the STS-88 mission included the IMAX Cargo Bay Camera (ICBC), the Argentine Scientific Applications Satellite-S (SAC-A), the MightySat 1 Hitchhiker payload, the Space Experiment Module (SEM-07) and Getaway Special G-093 sponsored by the University of Michigan.