Overview
The 13th flight of the space shuttle program and the sixth of Challenger, STS-41G holds many distinctions. As the first mission focused almost entirely on studying the Earth, it deployed a satellite, employed multiple instruments, cameras, and crew observations to accomplish those goals.
The STS-41G crew set several firsts, most notably as the first seven-member space crew. Other milestones included the first astronaut to make a fourth shuttle flight, the first and only astronaut to fly on Challenger three times and on back-to-back missions on any orbiter, the first crew to include two women, the first American woman to make two spaceflights, the first American woman to conduct a spacewalk, and the first Canadian and the first Australian-born American to make spaceflights.