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D. Brainerd Holmes
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<p>Dyer Brainerd Holmes (May 24, 1921 – January 11, 2013), known professionally as D. Brainerd Holmes, was an American engineer and business executive. He was perhaps best known for directing <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a>'s crewed spaceflight program from September 1961 to June 1963, when <a href="/facts/John_Glenn/uJLQekqe">John Glenn</a> made the pivotal first US orbital spaceflight, but Holmes was also the president of international defense contractor <a href="/facts/Raytheon/wGGxdMoD">Raytheon</a>. He retired from that post in 1986. </p>