This was the twenty-third Discovery flight. The deployment and retrieval of a satellite designed to study Earth's middle atmosphere along with a test of potential International Space Station hardware highlighted this flight. The Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmosphere-Shuttle Pallet Satellite-2 (CRISTA-SPAS-2) made its second flight. This was the fourth mission in a cooperative venture between the German Space Agency (DARA) and NASA. Landed at Kennedy Space Center August 19, 1997. Mission Duration: 11 days 20 hours 28 minutes 7 seconds. 

Launch Date: August 7, 1997 at 10:41 AM EDT Launch Vehicle: Discovery Crew: Commander: Curtis L. Brown, Jr., Pilot:Kent V. Rominger, Mission Specialists: N. Jan Davis, Robert L. Curbeam, Jr., Stephen K. Robinson, Payload Specialists: Bjarni Tryggvason Note: Jeffrey S. Ashby, Pilot was previously assigned as pilot of STS 85.