Soyuz T-3 was the 13th mission to visit the Salyut 6 space station. It was the first Soyuz spacecraft since 1971 that carried three cosmonauts. The mission began on November 27, 1980, 14:18:28 UTC, launching Commander Leonid Kizim, Flight Engineer Oleg Makarov and Research Cosmonaut Gennady Strekalov into orbit. They docked with the station the next day. During their 11-day stay on the station, crew was busy with overhauling and maintenance work on the station, and also carried out usual experiments. The mission concluded with a safe landing back on Earth on December 10, 1980, 09:26:10 UTC.