The first mission for the Challenger, it was also when the first spacewalk during a space shuttle mission.

Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space. Deployed two communications satellites aboard the Challenger.

Guion Bluford becomes first African-American in space along with landing the Challenger in its first shuttle night launch and night landing.

First untethered spacewalk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit also the first to deploy the WESTAR and Palapa B-2 communications satellites although unsuccessful.

The Challenger launched the first Solar Maximum Mission service mission, that would measure the frequency of solar winds coming from the Sun.

The Challengers first mission to carry two women with one of them, Kathryn D. Sullivan, becoming the first American woman to make a spacewalk. This mission, the Challenger deployed Earth Radiation Budget Satellite.

The Challenger's third to last mission, to launch Spacelab-3 in Earth's orbit

Known as Deutschland-1, D-1 for short, was the first joint mission with West Germany's Space Agency, along with the ESA.

The tenth mission for the Challenger, was unfortunately its last. Due to freezing tempratures having an effect on the engines, the Challenger exploded upon ascent, killing all seven members of the crew.