Soyuz 29 was the fourth mission to visit the Salyut 6 space station and carried the the EO-2 expedition, which was the second long-duration crew for the station. The mission began on June 15, 1978, 20:16:45 UTC, launching Commander Vladimir Kovalyonok and Flight Engineer Aleksandr Ivanchenkov into orbit. They docked with the station the next day. During their 136-day stay on the station, EO-2 crew conducted various scientific experiments, performed an EVA and were visited by three uncrewed Progress cargo spacecrafts and two visiting crews, Soyuz 30 and Soyuz 31. EO-2 crew swapped the vehicles with the Soyuz 31 crew, and returned to Earth in Soyuz 31 spacecraft. The mission concluded with a safe landing back on Earth on November 2, 1978, 11:05:00 UTC.