Soyuz 33 would have been the eighth crew to dock to the Salyut 6 space station and was meant to visit the long-duration resident crew of the station. The mission began on April 10, 1979, 17:34:34 UTC, launching Commander Nikolai Rukavishnikovv and Research Cosmoanut Georgi Ivanov, the first Bulgarian cosmonaut, into orbit. They were going to dock with the station the next day, but engine failure forced mission to be aborted. The mission concluded with a rough return and landing back on Earth on April 12, 1979, 16:35:40 UTC.