Backup crew

Mission parameters

• Mass: 6850 kg
• Perigee: 201 km
• Apogee: 250 km
• Inclination: 51.6°
• Period: 88.7 minutes

Mission highlights

14th expedition to Salyut 6.

Docking with Salyut 6 delayed after the onboard Argon computer determined it would occur outside of radio range with the TsUP. In mid-May, Kovalyonok and Savinykh replaced the Soyuz-T 4 probe with a Salyut drogue. This may have been an experiment to see if a Soyuz-T docked to a space station could act as a rescue vehicle in the event that an approaching Soyuz-T equipped with a probe experienced docking difficulties and could not return to Earth.