Ten experiments mounted on Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS-01) performed research in forming metal alloys in microgravity and use of remote sensing scanner. Orbiter's small control rockets fired while SPAS-01 held by remote manipulator system to test movement on extended arm.

The Material Science Laboratory was a carrier system designed to utilize the residual space of the Shuttle cargo bay. Based on the multi-purpose experiment support structure (MPESS) carrier, it offered a full complement of power, data, and thermal control services to payloads mounted on it.

The Spartan series consists of low-cost, Shuttle-launched, short-duration, sounding-rocket-type payloads. The payloads were retrievable and reusable with a turnaround time of 6 to 9 months. Spartan operated as an autonomous sub-satellite, and the data was stored on an internal tape recorder. Pointing and stabilization were achieved by an attitude control system capable of three-axis stabilized pointing to any target within +/- 3 arc-minutes. The main objective of this spacecraft was to obtain UV spectra of the coma and tail of Comet Halley in January 1986 shortly before its perihelion. This spacecraft was lost when Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on launch.

Spartan Flight Support Structure was an MPESS class cross-bay truss structure on which Spartan 204 was mounted. The Spartan satellites were small free flyers deployed by the RMS robot arm for a couple of days and then retrieved. SPTN-204 carried NRL's FUVIS Far Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph which was used to study the Shuttle environment and make astronomical observations. This was the first Spartan mission to be sponsored by the USAF Space Test Program rather than NASA.

Technology Applications and Science experiment, mounted in space shuttle bay, from NASA-Goddard's Hitchhiker-M program. TAS-01 used a number of GAS cans with science experiments, including the second flight of the Shuttle Laser Altimeter and an instrument to measure the absolute bolometric flux of the Sun.

The Japanese JEM-RMS robot arm extracted the SSIKLOPS (Cyclops) deployer and its attached SpinSat satellite from the Kibo airlock and positioned it for deployment. The Cyclops then ejected SpinSat into orbit. SpinSat was a Naval Research Lab satellite to test new microthrusters for attitude control.