Salyut 6 EO-1

Salyut 6 EO-1 was a Soviet long duration space expedition, the first to dock successfully with the space station Salyut 6. The two person crew stayed were in space for a record setting 96 days, from December 1977 to March 1978. The expedition was the start of what would be the semi-permanent occupation of space by the Soviets.

The expedition set several records and established several milestones, including the longest space flight to that time, the first docking of three spacecraft together, and the hosting of the first non-Soviet, non-American space-farer. Additionally, the mission saw the first spacewalk by the Soviets since 1969. An important modification from previous Salyut stations which made many of these feats possible was an extra docking port on Salyut 6, which allowed for re-supply missions, visiting crews and, potentially, crew rotations and permanent occupation.

The crew consisted of Yuri Romanenko and Georgy Grechko. Their call sign for the mission was Taymyr, after the Russian peninsula. The crew were launched aboard Soyuz 26, and are often referred to as the Soyuz 26 crew, even though they returned to earth aboard Soyuz 27, a few months after the Soyuz 26 spacecraft had been landed.