Personal: Male. Born in USA.

Robert H. Charles , became a special assistant to the NASA Administrator in 1963, with responsibility for working with industry to accomplish Project Apollo. He was especially involved in the creation of incentive contracting mechanisms at the agency to reward exceptionally performance by contractors. Previously, he had been an executive with the McDonnell Aircraft Corp. After remaining with NASA for a short time, Charles moved to a position as assistant secretary of the Air Force where he was involved in the development of the C-5A total procurement package contract of the mid-1960s. He left that position in 1968 to return to industry.