Columbia landed at Kennedy Space Center for the first time ever due to bad weather at Edwards Air Force Base caused by the remnants of Hurricane Darby.

Experiments conducted were: Crystal Growth Furnace (CGF); Drop Physics Module (DPM); Surface Tension Driven Convection Experiments (STDCE); Zeolite Crystal Growth (ZCG); Protein Crystal Growth (PCG); Glovebox Facility (GBX); Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS); Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (GBA); Astroculture-1 (ASC); Extended Duration Orbiter Medical Project (EDOMP); Solid Surface Combustion Experiment (SSCE).

Columbia touched down almost 14 days later, returning with data and specimens amassed from an important suite of microgravity experiments.

Through the action of free fall (e.g., Space Shuttle orbiting Earth), the local effects of gravity are greatly reduced, thus creating a microgravity environment.

An additional piece of new hardware on this flight was the versatile glovebox, which permitted "hands-on" manipulation of small experiments while isolating the crew from the liquids, gases, or solids involved.

Crew members were able to exchange samples using a specially designed flexible glovebox to provide additional experiment operations.

By studying drops in this manner, scientists have the opportunity to test basic fluid physics theories in the areas of nonlinear dynamics, capillary waves, and surface rheology (changes in the form and flow of matter).

The glovebox offers crew members the opportunity to manipulate many different kinds of test activities, demonstrations and materials (even toxic, irritating, or potentially infectious ones) without making direct contact with them.

Other tests conducted inside the glovebox included studies on candle flames, fiber pulling, particle dispersion, surface convection in liquids, and liquid/container interfaces.

The glovebox also provided crew members the opportunity to perform backup operations on the Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus, which were not planned.

The apparatus studied living cells, microorganisms used in ecological waste treatment, and the development of brine shrimp and wasp eggs, and other biomedical test models which are used in cancer research.

The SAMS instruments flew on more than twenty Shuttle missions, 3.5 years on Mir, and a new version is presently (2006) on the International Space Station.

Zeolite crystals are used to purify biological fluids, as additives in laundry detergents, and in waste clean-up applications.

Through the experiment, crew members were able to contact amateur radio operators, a Polynesian sailing vessel replica out in the Pacific Ocean, and selected schools around the world.

It was arguably the first time that the astronauts received amateur television video from the ham radio club station (W5RRR) at Johnson Space Center (JSC).

It is used to study the formation of polymer membranes in microgravity with the aim of improving their quality and use as filters in biomedical and industrial processes.

Both the stars and stripes on the USML letters, as well as the highlighted United States on the Earth below the shuttle, depict the fact that it was an all-American science mission.

Columbia's "stand-up" orbital attitude, although ideal for microgravity experiments, was very far from optimal from the point of view of D&M (Debris and Micrometeoroid) vulnerability.