A fine, sunny day. I sleep with the window open, and at night it gets very cool. I got cold tonight, which is probably why I didn’t sleep very deeply. Today is a momentous day — the state commission officially confirms the crews for the flight. The commission proceeded, as always, with due ceremony. They read out the decision appointing Tolya and me as the primary crew for Salyut-7. Shatalov read the proposal, then came congratulations and well-wishes, and at the end they gave us the floor. We said that we had been given a great honor and trust — to begin work on Salyut-7 and blaze the trail for future crews. We understand the flight will be difficult but interesting; we will do everything in our power to carry out the Motherland’s assignment with honor. After the state commission came a press conference. I didn’t care for it: dry, standard questions — on the whole, dull.

In the evening I spoke with Yeliseyev. He was glad to hear from me and asked how he could help. I said I had one request — to help, from the very start, establish a friendly working relationship with the ground, and if something comes up, to try to understand us and meet us halfway. Before bed I went for a walk and thought about how hard the road to my second flight had been, how long, through such a thicket of human relationships, difficulties, training, retraining on new equipment, through failures and falls — and now I’ve reached the summit. What’s frightening is not the height to which I’ve climbed, nor the dangers inherent in our profession, nor the hardships of a long flight and a heavy workload — what’s frightening is oneself: am I capable of living with my crewmate for so long and working without breaking down? It might seem that the main difficulties are behind me, but it turns out everything still lies ahead, and we are not the first — others have walked this road before us. Talked to Lyusya in a somewhat testy tone; she asks too many questions about how things are going and tells me too little about home. She, my dear, will understand me. I asked our doctor Zhenya Kobzev: “Do you think we’ll hold up?” He answered: “I don’t know.” But I believe we will. Trainer Yura Masyukov says: “You’ll hold up, but somewhere in the middle of the flight there’ll be a breakdown, and then everything will recover.”