MSC Software Corporation was formed in 1963 under the name MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation (MSC), by Dr. Richard H. MacNeal and Robert Schwendler. The company developed its first structural analysis software called SADSAM (Structural Analysis by Digital Simulation of Analog Methods) at that time and was deeply involved in the early efforts of the aerospace industry to improve early finite element analysis technology. A key milestone was responding to a 1965 request for proposal (RFP) from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for a general-purpose structural analysis program that would eventually become Nastran (NASA Structural Analysis). The company subsequently pioneered many of the technologies that are now relied upon by industry to analyze and predict stress and strain, vibration and dynamics, acoustics, and thermal analysis. In 1971, the company released a commercial version of Nastran, named MSC/Nastran.