Vitaly Mikhaylovich Zholobov (Russian: Виталий Михайлович Жолобов; Ukrainian: Віталій Михайлович Жолобов; born 18 June 1937) is a retired Soviet cosmonaut who flew on Soyuz 21 space flight as the flight engineer, and a former head of Kherson Regional Council in Ukraine.

Zholobov joined the space programme from the Soviet Air Force where he held the rank of Colonel-engineer.

The Control Center decided to abort the mission to avoid exposing the crew to further risk and because the research and technology programs were already successfully finished.

[1] Although he never flew again, Zholobov stayed in the space programme until 1981 when he resigned to become director of a geological science research group.

From 12 June 1996 to 4 February 1997, he held the position of Deputy General Director of the National Space Agency of Ukraine.