Development of NASTRAN
The NASTRAN development team, which included the Computer Science Corporation and The MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation (MSC)* being led by Dr. Richard H. MacNeal, was working in uncharted territory and made significant contributions to computer science, numerical analysis, and finite element approximation theory. The original release of NASTRAN® in 1968, was enthusiastically received by the user community, which consisted of the large aerospace companies and government laboratories that could afford the multi-million dollar computers which the software required. NASA hosted a series of NASTRAN Colloquia, starting in 1971, that provided a forum for a lively interchange of ideas between the user community and MSC, which developed the program and then provided maintenance and development services. The proceedings from these Colloquia chronicle the rapid expansion of element/solution types and usage beyond the original aerospace and government communities.

Commercialization of NASTRAN
As the uses for NASTRAN expanded, NASA believed that the finite element technology incorporated in the program was an important national resource that should be widely disseminated. In a forward-looking move, the agency decided that the best way to accomplish this goal was to make the source code available to software companies that would further develop the code as commercial products.

MSC developed its own commercial version, MSC.Nastran®, which was first released in the early 1970's. Competitive commercial finite element packages from other university and industry sources also broke into the developing market in the 1970's, but NASTRAN remained the leading commercial software code stream. Other commercial versions of NASTRAN were developed by Universal Analytics and CSAR. MSC subsequently acquired these companies, however, so that MSC.Nastran remained for several years as the only extant commercial version of the NASTRAN program.

NASTRAN Today
The MacNeal Group offers competitive alternatives to MSC.Nastran and NX Nastran®. The NASTRAN-xMG and NASTRAN L-SERIES software applications provide new element and solution technology, open architecture design, and economical solutions of complex product and manufacturing process problems.

* In 1999, The MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation changed its name to the MSC.Software Corporation. The company is still commonly referred to as MSC.