Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome; landing 200 km southwest of Karaganda.

It was a unique test flight of the 7K-T/AF modification of the Soyuz spacecraft.

On board was the large Orion 2 astrophysical camera. The crew performed astrophysical observations of stars in the ultraviolet range with this camera. Spectrozonal Earth photography, testing of on-board systems and biological explorations (OASE 2) in view of later planned long termed missions were other experiments. Some of this experiment should have been done on the Saylut 2 station, but the station failed in orbit.

The recovery of the capsule was problematic because of a snowstorm.