[4] Salyut 4 was in an unusually high circular orbit of 350 km (220 mi) when Soyuz 17 docked with the station.

[4] One of their activities included testing communication equipment for tracking ships and contacting mission control via a Molniya satellite.

[4] Astrophysics was a major component of the mission, with the station's solar telescope activated on 16 January 1975.

[5] The crew later discovered that the main mirror of the telescope had been ruined by direct exposure to sunlight when the pointing system failed.

[5] They safely landed near Tselinograd in a snowstorm with winds of 72 km/h and wore gravity suits to ease the effects of re-adaptation.