At age 77, Glenn became the oldest person to go into space, a record that remained unbroken for 23 years until 82-year-old Wally Funk flew on a suborbital flight on Blue Origin NS-16, launching on 20 July 2021, which in turn was broken by William Shatner at age 90 on 13 October 2021 and then by Ed Dwight on May 19, 2024.

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.

It was designed to investigate physical conditions and processes of the hot outer layers of the Sun's atmosphere, or solar corona.

NASA expected that information collected during this mission would lead to a much better understanding of the solar winds that directly influence orbiting satellites and weather conditions on Earth which in turn impact television and phone communications.

[6] These problems were due with the attitude control system for fine pointing toward solar targets, and Spartan was cleared for use again on STS-95.

[6] 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.

[7] According to the New York Times, Glenn "won his seat on the shuttle flight by lobbying NASA for two years to fly as a human guinea pig for geriatric studies", which were named as the main reasons for his participation in the STS-95 mission.

[3] The investigations were expected to gather information which may provide a model system to help scientists interested in understanding aging.

Senator from New Mexico, Jack Swigert (Apollo 13), who was elected to Congress in the state of Colorado but died before being sworn in, and U.S.

In a reprise of his first space flight, while in orbit, Glenn was greeted again by the citizens of Perth and Rockingham in Australia.

The award is given annually to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to public awareness of space programs.

Wheel brakes and speedbrakes were sufficient to bring Discovery to a stop on Runway 33 at the Shuttle Landing Facility.

[14] NASA had begun a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the Gemini program, which was first used to wake up a flight crew during Apollo 15.

[15] The STS-95 mission insignia was designed by the crew, and evokes the scientific, engineering and historic elements of the flight.

[16] The mission payloads—microgravity material science, medical research for humans on Earth and in space, and astronomy—represent three major scientific fields and are symbolized in the insignia by rocket plumes.