dara

Nearly 30 experiments in materials processing were conducted with nine different types of science facilities. DARA provided the TEMPUS, flying for first time on IML-2, designed to allow study of solidification of materials from liquid state in a containerless environment. Solidification phenomena are of great interest to science and also used in many industrial processes. Science teams detected for first time a phase in a nickel-niobium sample that is masked by other forces on Earth.

The Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL) mission series was designed to build on the successes of previous microgravity missions and to explore new ways to observe and measure gravity's effect on chemical and physical processes. NASA chose Spacelab, which is a module built by the European Space Agency to fit inside the shuttle's cargo bay, as the microgravity laboratory for the MSL series. Flown aboard STS-83
 

The reusable ASTRO-SPAS space platform is 1.7 meters (5.7 feet) wide and 4.5 meters (15 feet) long --
about the size of the flatbed of a large pickup truck. It was built by Daimler-Benz Aerospace (formerly
Duetsche Aerospace).

ASTRO-SPAS can carry a payload weighing up to 2000 kg (about 2 tons) and is capable of accurately
pointing the science instruments to a precision of a few arcsecs -- an angle that is the same size as a dime
seen from a distance of two miles.

http://snoopy.gsfc.nasa.gov/~orfeus2/spas.html