Vasily Mishin

Vasily Pavlovich Mishin (Василий Павлович Мишин) (January 18, 1917 – October 10, 2001) was a Soviet engineer and a prominent rocketry pioneer.

Mishin was a Soviet rocket scientist and one of the first Soviet specialists to see Nazi Germany’s V-2 facilities at the end of World War II. He worked with Sergey Korolev as his deputy in the development of the first Soviet ICBM as well in the Sputnik and Vostok programs.

Mishin was a very competent engineer who had served as Korolev's deputy and right-hand man. He became head of Korolev’s OKB-1 design bureau and Chief Designer after Korolev's death in 1966. He inherited the N1 rocket program, intended to land a man on the Moon, but which turned out to be fatally flawed (partly due to lack of adequate funding). In 1974, Mishin was replaced by a rival, Valentin Glushko, after all four N-1 test launches failed.

He continued his educational and research works as the head of rocket department of Moscow Aviation Institute.

Vasily Mishin was awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labor for his work with the Soviet space program.