The Crew of Soyuz 32 (Vladimir Lyakhov and Valeri Ryumin) was assigned the task of spending 6 months aboard Salyut 6 (no one had ever been in space that long, before) and of repairing a hydrazine leak. Nitrogen was used to push hydrazine from the tank but it wasn't possible as an internal bladder had ruptured. The purpose was to force the hydrazine from the leaky tank into an empty tank. They waited for a Progress to dock. Then, they sent the entire Progress-Salyut-Soyuz complex tumbling end over end, using centrifugal force to separate the nitrogen gas from the hydrazine fuel. The leaky tank became empty and the hydrazine was safely pushed inside the other tank! The Progress slowed the complex once it was safe!

They expected the visit of Soyuz 33 with Rukavishnikov and the Bulgarian Ivanov. But upon arrival, when he ignited the engine for the approach, suddenly the engine cut off and Rukavishnikov saw a lateral glow outside (a plume). Something was wrong. They couldn't dock to Salyut and had to wait 24 hours for a favorable landing opportunity in Kzakhstan. They didn't know if the secundary engine would work, (the main one was kaput). The back-up engine had to work for 3 minutes in order to ensure return. For Rukavishnikov, those 24 hours of waiting seemed like a month "I was scared as hell". When it was time to burn the back-up engine, it fired much longer than expected and they landed with 10Gs or more and when the rescue crews found them, Rukavishnikov was seen hugging the ground.

The crew of Soyuz 32 didn't get any visits and they had to wait and wait without doing much besides exercizing and a spacewalk to get rid of an antenna, outside.

Raoul