Charyk Credit - NASA

Personal: Male. Born in Canada.

Joseph V. Charyk was under secretary of the Air Force (1960-1963) and later returned to aerospace industry, serving as first president of Communications Satellite Corporation after 1963. Charyk decided to make geosynchronous satellites the basis of the Comsat network. He fought skepticism that this untested technology wouldn't work for voice transmission because of a half-second time delay. He also raised funds to support this new industry and enlisted the cooperation of countries around the world. His efforts launched a global system that would eventually seem commonplace to billions of people around the world.