During the six-day mission, January 12–18, Cenker performed a variety of physiological tests, operated a primary experiment – an infrared imaging camera – and assisted with the deployment of RCA Americom's Satcom Ku-1 satellite, the primary mission objective. Satcom K-1 was deployed nearly 10 hours into the mission, and Satcom later reached its geostationary “slot” at 85 degrees West longitude where it remained operational until April 1997, the last major commercial satellite deployed by the space shuttle program.