A mission lasting under four days, its primary purpose was to perform a crewed test of the new Soyuz-T spacecraft.

When the visiting Soyuz 36 Intercosmos crew departed Salyut 6 on 3 June 1980 and the remaining resident crew almost immediately redocked the Soyuz craft left behind, observers speculated the secretive Soviets were possibly planning a second Intercosmos mission.

Additionally, the Soyuz was equipped with a new Argon computer which controlled docking and reentry procedures.

[1] During their short stay, Malyshev and Aksyonov seemed to have carried out a minimum of experiments, including participating in some medical tests and using the Salyut's MKF-6M camera.

[1][2] As they left, the Salyut turned around and the Soyuz T-2 crew photographed and visually inspected the space station.