Soyuz T-12 (also known as Salyut 7 EP-4) was the seventh manned spaceflightto the Soviet Space Station Salyut 7 The name "Soyuz T-12" is also the name of the spacecraft used to launch and land the mission's three person crew. The mission occurred in July 1984, during the long-duration expedition Salyut 7 EO-3. During the mission, crew member Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to ever perform a spacewalk, and the potential Buran Space Shuttle pilot, Igor Volk, was given spaceflight experience. Unlike many Soyuz visiting missions, the Soyuz lifeboats were not swapped, and the crew returned to Earth in the same spacecraft in which they launched.

Volk was a glimpse of things which might have been: he was a Buran programme program pilot being flown in space to prove he would be able to pilot Buran back to Earth after an extended stay in space.

The crew of Soyuz T-12 (callsign Pamir), the second Visiting Expedition to visit the Mayaks, included veteran cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Buran shuttle program cosmonaut Igor Volk, and Svetlana Savitskaya. On July 25 Dzhanibekov and Savitskaya performed a 3 hr, 30 min EVA (Savitskaya became the first woman ever to perform EVA), during which they tested the URI multipurpose tool. They cut, welded, soldered, and coated metal samples. During the Pamirs’ stay, the six cosmonauts aboard Salyut 7 also conducted Rezonans tests and collected station air samples.

An EVA by Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Svetlana Savitskaya was performed on July 25, 1984 (3h 33m). For this first EVA by a woman, Svetlana Savitskaya donned an Orlan-D suit already worn eight times by cosmonauts on Salyut 7. With Vladimir Dzhanibekov, she was tasked with testing the Universalny Rabochy (or Ruchnoj) Instrument ("Universal Hand Tool") (URI) multipurpose electron beam cutting, welding, soldering, and brazing tool. Svetlana Savitskaya played a central role in developing the handle and other cosmonaut interfaces of the tool. She trained with URI three times in a vacuum chamber and in a plane flying parabolas. Some engineers voiced reservations about flying URI - it generated a great deal of heat which might damage the cosmonauts' space suits. The experience of the Vulkan automated welding system 15 years before loomed large in engineers' minds (the device ran amok aboard Soyuz 6 and nearly cut the table holding welding samples in half). On day 7 with Igor Volk inside Salyut 7 monitoring the EVA timeline, Vladimir Dzhanibekov opened the Salyut 7 airlock. He unfolded and stood in a Yakor foot restraint, then set up a worksite lamp. Svetlana Savitskaya handed out URI, which Vladimir Dzhanibekov set up and attached to an external power outlet. He then traded places with Svetlana Savitskaya, who set up a TV camera. Salyut 7 passed out of communications range with the TsUP; when contact was restored, Svetlana Savitskaya began work with URI, first cutting a 0.5-mm- (0.02-in-) thick titanium sample. In all she performed six cutting, two silver spray coating, and six soldering experiments, taking care always not to point URI at Salyut 7 lest the tool run amok. Her heart rate peaked during the EVA at 140 beats/minute. While soldering the Sun glared in her face, making it difficult for her to see her work; nevertheless, her results were later judged satisfactory. Svetlana Savitskaya and Vladimir Dzhanibekov then traded places again so he could test URI. Vladimir Dzhanibekov said later that "the tool is very handy and I'm sure we'll be using it a lot." After finishing, he took down URI and handed the device and experiment samples to Svetlana Savitskaya. Vladimir Dzhanibekov then removed Ekpozitsiya cassettes from the station's exterior and handed them to Svetlana Savitskaya, who handed back a Meduza bio-polymer cassette for installation. Products of the welding experiment returned to Earth in Soyuz T-12.