In 1979 he was assigned to the Buran programme. In February 1982 he passed all the required exams and became the first Lithuanian cosmonaut. After September 1984 he trained to fly the 11F35 (Buran, USSR space shuttle). Stankevičius accomplished 14 test-flights with Buran's counterpart BTS-02 aircraft and 6 taxi tests with Buran. He was both the pilot and the commander of the space shuttle.