Soyuz 38

Soyuz 38 was the Soviet-Cuban Intercosmos visiting mission to Salyut 6. Yuri Romanenko commanded the flight and Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez served as research cosmonaut, launching from Baikonur Site 1/5 on September 18, 1980 and docking with Salyut 6 the next day. The crew worked with the resident station crew during a week-long program that included Cuban-supported medical, adaptation, Earth-observation, plant-growth, and crystal-growth experiments. The mission returned safely on September 26, 1980 after 124 orbits. It made Tamayo the first Cuban and first Latin American in space, and it gave Romanenko his second spaceflight after the long-duration Salyut 6 EO-1 mission.