On April 4, 1983, STS-6, the maiden flight of the orbiter Challenger, lifted off at 1:30 p.m. ET. The mission marked the first use of a new lightweight external tank and lightweight SRB casings. STS-6 carried a crew of four ~~ Paul J. Weitz, Karol J. Bobko, Donald H. Peterson and Story Musgrave. The mission's primary cargo was the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS).

Also on-board Challenger was an experiment to manufacture microscopic beads used in the calibration of particle size measuring instruments including optical and electron microscopes. These polystyrene spheres, 10 micrometers in diameter, were so small that 18,000 could fit on the head of a pin. Lehigh University and NASA cooperated in developing this Standard Reference Material (SRM #1960), the first true product "made in space."