Soyuz T-12 was a short, 12-day visitation mission to the Salyut 7 space station's Mayak crew. It marked the first time a woman flew to space more than once and the first time a woman performed a spacewalk. After NASA announced that an upcoming Space Shuttle mission would feature the first spacewalk by a woman, the Soyuz T-12 mission was quickly assembled and launched first so the Soviet Union would beat the USA in the race for this achievement.