Mikhail Vasilievich Vassiliev (pen name of Mikhail Vasilievich Khvastunov, 1920–1978) was a Soviet science journalist and popular writer, author of more than twenty books. Born in Kashin, Tver Oblast, he devoted his career to bringing Soviet science to a broad readership. In the 1950s he became one of the leading chroniclers of the Soviet space programme, authoring several books on astronautics and artificial satellites. He founded the "Club of the Curious" column in Komsomolskaya Pravda, which still runs today. His Puteshestviya v Kosmos (1957–1958), translated into French and English in January 1958, was one of the first authorised Soviet accounts of the space programme in the wake of Sputnik.