Which mission launched the only eight-person Space Shuttle crew?

Which mission launched the only eight-person Space Shuttle crew? STS-61-A launched and landed with eight people aboard.

The mission lifted off aboard Challenger on October 30, 1985, carrying Commander Henry Hartsfield, Pilot Steven Nagel, mission specialists James Buchli, Guion Bluford and Bonnie Dunbar, plus payload specialists Reinhard Furrer, Ernst Messerschmid and Wubbo Ockels. Its main assignment was Spacelab D-1, a German-led microgravity laboratory mission.

STS-61-A operated for 7 days, 44 minutes and 51 seconds. German flight controllers at Oberpfaffenhofen directly managed certain Spacelab operations, an unusual international feature of the flight. The crew conducted 75 experiments involving materials science, life science, communications and navigation.

A common mix-up is STS-71, which involved eight people during part of its Mir-related operations. However, STS-61-A is the canonical answer for the largest crew aboard a single spacecraft continuously from launch through landing. The mission was also Challenger’s final successful flight before the 1986 accident.