Salyut 6 EO-3

Salyut 6 EO-3 was the station's third resident expedition, flown by Vladimir Lyakhov and Valeri Ryumin. The crew launched aboard Soyuz 32 from Baikonur Site 31/6 on February 25, 1979, docked with Salyut 6 the next day, and took over a station that still needed repair work around its propulsion-system pressurization hardware. During the mission they supported Progress cargo operations, station maintenance, television and communications upgrades, materials and Earth-observation experiments, and the interrupted Soyuz 33 visiting mission. After Soyuz 33's engine failure raised concerns about the resident crew's return vehicle, the Soviet program launched Soyuz 34 uncrewed as a replacement ferry. Lyakhov and Ryumin also performed an EVA on August 15 to free the KRT-10 radio telescope antenna from the aft docking area before returning safely on Soyuz 34.