Soyuz 21

Soyuz 21 was the first crewed mission to Salyut 5, the final Almaz military station flown under the public Salyut name. Boris Volynov and Vitaly Zholobov launched from Baikonur Site 1/5 on July 6, 1976, docked with Salyut 5 the next day, and lived aboard the station for just over 49 days. Spacefacts records the crew's work as a mix of station operations, military-observation tasks, biomedical studies, solar and biological observations, crystal-growth experiments, and engineering tests tied to later station logistics. The mission ended earlier than expected after Zholobov's health and the crew's condition deteriorated near the end of the stay. Volynov and Zholobov undocked and landed safely southwest of Kokchetav on August 24, 1976, leaving Salyut 5 available for later Soyuz missions.