Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome; landing with Soyuz 27 spacecraft 310 km west of Tselinograd.

Following a one day solo flight the Soyuz docked with the space station Salyut 6 on 11.12.1977. The staying time there was 95 days. SEVA by Romanenko and Grechko on 19.12.1977 (1h 28m), inspecting the Salyut 6 docking port. The inspection confirmed that the Soyuz 25 spacecraft docking unit was at fault in its failure to hard dock, and that its docking attempts had left the Salyut 6 front port undamaged. The resident crew became visits from Soyuz 27 on 10.01.1978 and from Soyuz 28 since 02.03.1978. They performed common scientific work and experiments.

It was the first mission to receive visiting crews launched aboard another spacecraft, and to be resupplied by a logistics spacecraft (Progress 1) on 20.01.1978, delivering food, water, air and fuel. The crew also set a new flight duration record.