The first space shuttle mission to deploy commercial satellites was STS-5. Launched aboard Columbia on November 11, 1982, the mission released the SBS-3 and Anik-C3 communications satellites into orbit.
STS-5 was the fifth shuttle mission and the fifth flight of Columbia. The two commercial satellites were built by Hughes and used McDonnell Douglas PAM-D kick motors to move from the shuttle’s low-Earth orbit toward their operational geosynchronous orbits. SBS-3 was owned by Satellite Business Systems, while Anik-C3 belonged to Telesat Canada.
The mission was important because it demonstrated that the shuttle could serve as a working commercial launch platform, not merely as an experimental spacecraft. It was also officially designated the first operational Space Shuttle mission. Columbia carried a four-person crew, the largest spacecraft crew up to that time.
STS-5 is sometimes confused with STS-6 or STS-7 because those missions also carried significant commercial or communications payloads. However, STS-5 was the first to deploy commercial communications satellites from the shuttle.