He was a member of the first crew to visit the first space station, Salyut 1. However, he and the rest of the crew were killed during the return flight. Patsayev was launched as flight engineer in June 1971 in Soyuz 11 with commander Georgi Dobrovolsky and flight engineer Vladislav Volkov. The crew resided at the space station for 23 days, achieving a duration record. They were killed just before re-entry when a faulty valve emptied the Soyuz 11 capsule of air. Spacesuits were not worn because of the capsule's space limitations.

Patsayev was selected as a civilian engineer cosmonaut in 1968. He was first appointed as a back-up research engineer for Soyuz 10.