NASTRAN is a finite element analysis (FEA) program that was originally developed for NASA in the late 1960s under United States government funding for the aerospace industry.

In the late 1960s, the MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation (MSC) started to market and support its own version of NASTRAN, called MSC/NASTRAN (which eventually became MSC.Nastran).

[1][6][2] In November 2002 MSC Software reached a final agreement with the FTC to resolve an antitrust case against the company in connection with two acquisitions of rival CAE vendors, Universal Analytics, Inc. (UAI) and Computerized Structural Analysis & Research Corp. (CSAR).

NASTRAN is compatible with a large variety of computers and operating systems ranging from small workstations to the largest supercomputers.

A module is a collection of FORTRAN subroutines designed to perform a specific task—processing model geometry, assembling matrices, applying constraints, solving matrix problems, calculating output quantities, conversing with the database, printing the solution, and so on.

Some of the most common solution sequence codes are: NASTRAN is primarily a solver for finite element analysis.

However, multiple software vendors market pre- and post-processors designed to simplify building a finite element model and analyzing the results.

These software tools include functionality to import and simplify CAD geometry, mesh with finite elements, and apply loads and restraints.

Since 1963, MSC Nastran has continued to evolve and extend capabilities to dynamics, rotordynamics, nonlinear, thermal, high impact, NVH, fluid structural interactive and fatigue analysis.

Built from the same base code as the original NASTRAN software created by NASA that includes the original NASTRAN architecture and DMAP language, NASTRAN-xMG provides unlimited problem size, high-speed solver technology, and substructuring analysis options.

[9] NEi Nastran is a general purpose finite element analysis solver used to analyze linear and nonlinear stress, dynamics, and heat transfer characteristics of structures and mechanical components.

Nastran's CAE capabilities were added to NX Unigraphics' CAD and other components to form the EDS/UGS PLM Solutions product life-cycle management suite.

The purchase included a perpetual, worldwide, free of royalties, nonexclusive license of the software program MSC.Nastran v2001, other assets related to the software, and all copyright and trademark rights acquired as a result of MSC's acquisitions of Universal Analytics Inc. and Computerized Structural Analysis & Research Corp. in 1999.