Soviet space landing: Is Salyut 6 too old?

Three Soviet cosmonauts are due to return to earth after completing a two-week repair mission on the Salyut 6 space laboratory, the Soviet news agency Tass reported. It said Leonid Kizim, Oleg Makarov, and Gennady Strekalov had completed repairs to the space station and were checking the systems of their Soyuz T-3 craft. A specially developed computer guidance system, which took control of the T-3 and guided it to a smooth linkup with the three-year old space station, was to receive another major test in the reentry maneuver. The Soyuz T-3 crew will report on its work to space officials, who will decide whether Salyut 6, built to serve for 18 months, can support more missions.