Columbia launched on schedule from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 7:19 am EST, November 11, 1982. The shuttle carried a crew of four – the largest spacecraft crew up to that time – and the first two commercial communications satellites to be flown aboard a shuttle.
The commercial satellites were deployed successfully and subsequently propelled into their operational geosynchronous orbits by booster rockets. The two satellites were SBS 3, owned by Satellite Business Systems, and Anik C3, owned by Telesat Canada; both were Hughes-built HS-376-series satellites.