Soyuz T-4

Soyuz T-4 launched from Baikonur on March 12, 1981 with Vladimir Kovalyonok as commander and Viktor Savinykh as flight engineer. The spacecraft docked with Salyut 6 the next day, beginning the station's fifth and final resident expedition. During the mission, Kovalyonok and Savinykh operated Salyut 6 after Progress 12 had prepared the station for their arrival, supported the Soyuz 39 Intercosmos visit with the first Mongolian cosmonaut, and later hosted the Soyuz 40 Soviet-Romanian visiting crew. Their work included station maintenance, Earth-observation support, biomedical and materials investigations, and operations around visiting vehicles during the closing phase of Salyut 6 crewed activity. The crew returned to Earth on May 26, 1981 after about 74 days in space. This AeroVia record links the verified Soyuz T-4 crew and Salyut 6 station relationship; it intentionally uses the existing Soyuz spacecraft family rather than creating a separate vehicle record in this batch.