During the mission the crew operated various astrophysical experiments and investigated the effects of microgravity on themselves and various organisms.
His next spaceflight was Soyuz 26, which docked with Salyut 6. Launched December 10, 1977, it lasted until January 16, 1978, when Grechko and Yuri Romanenko landed in the Soyuz 27 spacecraft. The crew broke the space endurance record of 84 days that had been set by the Skylab 4 crew. They also performed the first EVA by a Russian crew in 9 years when they went 'outside' to check whether the docking apparatus had been damaged by the aborted Soyuz 25 mission. It was the first time that the Soviets had admitted that Salyut 6 had two docking ports.
The two docking ports allowed the Russians to launch a Progress freighter to the station. This contained supplies that would keep the station in orbit for longer than if it had to rely on what was launched with it. The Progress also transferred fuel to the station, the first time an in-orbit refuelling had occurred.
Grechko's last flight was Soyuz T-14 launched September 17, 1985. This mission was an nine day visit to the Salyut 7/Soyuz T-13 complex and involved the fist crew rotation on the spaceflight. Vladimir Dzhanibekov, who had launched on Soyuz T-13 came down with Grechko in the Soyuz T-13 capsule, while Valdimir Vasyutin and Aleksandr Volkov stayed on board with Viktor Savinykh.
In all Grechko spent 134 days, and 20 hours and 32 minutes in space over three missions.
After retiring from the cosmonaut corps, he was from 1985 till 1992 the manager of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics.
His hobbies include skiing, underwater fishing, car racing, and collecting stamps.
He is twice Hero of the Soviet Union (by Decrees of Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on February 12, 1975 and on March 16, 1978). He has three Orders of Lenin, is a Hero of Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. As well as this he received the Kirti Chakra award from India. From the FAI he received the Gagarin Medal and from the USSR Academy of Science, the Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal. He was the winner of the State Premium of Ukrainian and Estonian SSRs. He is a honourary citizen of Kaluga, Angarsk (Russia), Dzhezkazgan, Arkalyk (Kazakhstan), Prague (Czechoslovakia) and Varna (Bulgaria).