Launch from Cape Canaveral (KSC); landing on Cape Canaveral (KSC). This flight was the mission Spacehab-SM. During the launch the orbiter lost a flap of the parachute box. So the Discovery had to land without using the drag chute.

Astronaut veteran John Glenn (77) returned into space after more than 36 years. Up to date he is the oldest person to go in space. Experiments on and with John Glenn (how do older humans work and feel in space?) were done.

The primary objectives included conducting a variety of science experiments in the pressurized Spacehab module, the deployment and retrieval of the Spartan free-flyer payload, and operations with the HST Orbital Systems Test (HOST) and the International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (IEH) payloads carried in the payload bay.

The Spacehab module flown on STS-95 was provided by Spacehab, Inc., a private company which provides single- or double-module Spacehabs to support NASA's space flight efforts. The Spacehab system provides additional pressurized workspace for experiments, cargo and crew activities. Spacehab modules have supported various Shuttle science missions along with several of the joint Shuttle-MIR missions.

For STS-95, a single-module Spacehab flew in the forward portion of Discovery's payload bay with the crew gaining access to the module through the airlock tunnel system. A variety of experiments sponsored by NASA, the Japanese Space Agency (NASDA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) focused on life sciences, microgravity sciences and advanced technology during the flight.

The SPARTAN 201-5 free-flyer was deployed and retrieved using the Shuttle's mechanical arm. It was designed to investigate physical conditions and processes of the hot outer layers of the Sun's atmosphere, or solar corona. While deployed from the Shuttle, SPARTAN gathered measurements of the solar corona and solar wind. The Hubble Space Telescope Orbital Systems Test (HOST) platform carried experiments to validate components planned for installation during the third Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission and to evaluate new technologies in an earth orbiting environment. The International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (IEH) payload involves a half dozen different experiments mounted on a support structure which was carried in Discovery's payload bay.