The ALS was a joint USAF and NASA study from 1987 to 1990. It was an endeavour of the years following the [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.]]. Colonel John R. Wormington (retired Brigadier General USAF) was assigned asthe Program Director of the Joint Department of Defense and NASA Advanced Launch System Program Office. Lieutenant Colonel Michael C. Mushala (retired Major General USAF) was assigned as hisWormington's Deputy. The program office was locatedoperated atfrom the [[Los Angeles Air Force Base]].
In October 1989, Mushala was promoted to Colonel. inIn OctoberFebruary 1989 and became Program Director when1990, Wormington was reassigned as commanderto ofcommand the Eastern[[45th Space andWing]] Missile Center,at [[Patrick AFB,Air FLForce Base]] in February 1990[[Florida]]. Mushala closed outbecame the program,anddirector until the System Program Office (SPO) wasgroup disbanded in July 1990. NASA Withcontinued the remaining propulsion development efforts being managed by NASA alonework. Although the project had a projected [[Research_and_development|R&D]] cost of $15 billion, its early cancellation led to a final cost slightly under $3 billion.
The program office was unique. It was the only SPO within Space Systems Division (AFSC) and it was allowed to be completely furnished with [[Macintosh|Apple Mac OS personal computers]] instead of the Command's mainline [[Microsoft Windows#Early versions|Microsoft Windows]] systems. This was in part because NASA had already been using Apple computers and the joint program needed to be able to communicate between the SPO and the many NASA sites. The SPO also helped pioneer the use and development of what later became [[Microsoft Project]].
