A new umbilical system was also installed to provide power, instrumentation, and control for the solid rocket booster field joint heaters.

Concurrently, Mobile Launcher Platform-3 (MLP-3), a legacy structure from the Apollo program, was substantially retrofitted for shuttle operations.

This process involved removing the umbilical tower, reconfiguring exhaust vents, and modernizing electrical and mechanical ground support systems.

Syncom IV-F5 (Leasat-5) was deployed on the second flight day, and a third-stage Minuteman solid apogee kick motor propelled it into a geosynchronous orbit.

Specialists who carefully monitored the stability of the craft's orbit had anticipated that if the LDEF was not retrieved in time, it would pass too low for the shuttle to safely reach, and could be destroyed during re-entry in February 1990.

Thus, the mission's exact liftoff time was determined about 12 hours before launch, using the latest tracking data on LDEF.

The crew performed a 41⁄2-hour photographic survey of the free-flying structure, which held 57 science, technology and applications experiments.

In addition to the Syncom IV-F5 (Leasat-5) satellite, STS-32 carried a number of mid-deck scientific payloads, some of which had already been flown on previous shuttle missions.