Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome; landing 170 km southeast of Dzheskasgan. It was the eighth Interkosmos mission. Following a one day solo flight the Soyuz docked with the Salyut 6 space station on 23.03.1981 and common work with the fifth resident crew.

The cosmonauts installed cosmic ray detectors in the work and transfer compartments. They also performed the Illyuminator ("viewing port") experiment, which studied the degradation of the station's viewports. Kovalyonok and Savinykh also used the Gologramma ("hologram") apparatus to image a viewing port damaged by micrometeoroids. They also collected samples of the station's air and microflora and removed the cosmic ray detectors for return to Earth. Experiments of Earth science were also performed, especially studies of Mongolia from space.