Buckey trained as an electrical engineer and physician, a combination that made him a strong fit for life-sciences payload work. Unlike career NASA astronauts, he flew as a payload specialist focused on the mission's biomedical research program.

STS-90 was a Spacelab mission dedicated to neuroscience and how the nervous system adapts to spaceflight. Buckey's work supported research into human physiology, adaptation, and medical risks relevant to longer missions.

After spaceflight, Buckey continued academic medicine, physiology research, and public service interests.