Soyuz T-2

Soyuz T-2 was the first crewed flight of the upgraded Soyuz T spacecraft. Yuri Malyshev and Vladimir Aksyonov launched from Baikonur Site 1/5 on June 5, 1980, docked with Salyut 6 on June 6, and returned to Earth on June 9 after a short systems-verification mission. Spacefacts lists Malyshev as commander and Aksyonov as flight engineer, with a duration of 3 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes, and 30 seconds across 62 orbits. The flight was brief, but important: it validated the Soyuz T transport in crewed operations and demonstrated its compatibility with an occupied Salyut station late in the Salyut 6 program. The crew carried out only limited experiment work compared with long-duration resident missions. Its main value was operational, proving the modernized Soyuz configuration before the spacecraft became the regular ferry for later Salyut 7 missions.