Born on Jan 5, 1917, he started his career in rocket science at NII-1 research institute, best known for the development of the legendary Katusha rockets. Mishin graduated from Moscow Aviation Institute in 1941. In 1945, Mishin was among a group of the NII-1 engineers dispatched to Germany to search for remnants the V-2 ballistic missiles used by the Nazis to terrorize London. During his work in Germany, Mishin met and forged friendship with Sergei Korolev, a future founder of the Soviet space program.

Upon returning to the USSR in 1946, Mishin became deputy to Korolev, who was assigned to lead the country's emerging missile development program. As Korolev's right hand, Mishin was responsible for overseeing the design of several generations of rockets, including the first Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile, the R-7. On October 4, 1957, the R-7 launch vehicle delivered into orbit the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik.

At the beginning of the 1960s, Mishin played vital role in the development of a super- heavy-lift booster, designated N-1. The Soviet equivalent of the Saturn-5 rocket, the N-1 was the crucial element of the Soviet lunar landing project. However, unlike the Apollo program, the Soviet effort to land a man on the Moon suffered from the lack of funds and internal rivalry in the rocket industry.

When Sergei Korolev died unexpectedly in 1966, Mishin found himself at the helm of the project that was plagued with technical problems and unrealistic schedules. According to many of his associates, Mishin possessed neither Korolev's charisma nor connections, both of which were needed for such a complex enterprise to succeed.

Between 1969 and 1972, as NASA scored six successful expeditions to the Moon, Mishin oversaw four disastrous attempts to launch monstrous N-1 rocket. In 1974, the Soviet government ousted Mishin from his position as the head of TsKBM and two years later officially terminated further attempts to send the Soviet cosmonauts to the Moon.

For the next 15 years Mishin was out of the spotlight, working at his alma mater, Moscow Aviation Institute. After the liberalization of Soviet society in the second half of the 1980s, Mishin re-entered public life with a number of controversial publications on the history of the Soviet space program.

In 1990, Mishin published the work entitled "Why We Did Not Fly to the Moon" which gave the first detailed account of the Soviet lunar program. In the book's conclusion, Mishin wrote: "I don't want my readers to think that I attempted to avoid responsibility as a Chief Designer for some of the mistakes that were made (including my personal ones) in the course of the lunar program. The person who doesn't do anything does not make mistakes. We the successors to Korolev did everything we could, but it was not enough."

Mishin will be buried on October 15 at Traekurovskoe Cemetery in Moscow.