Jeff Bezos will be suing NASA over his aerospace company, Blue Origin, after SpaceX was given an extremely sought after contract for lunar lander. SpaceNews reports that Bezos explains his reasoning to sue is because he feels it was “unlawful and improper.” The long running rivalry between Blue Origin and SpaceX is nearly neck and neck with this perhaps being the last straw.

 Blue Origin has been very open and persistent with their opinions on NASA possibly favoring SpaceX. Blue Origin wrote in an open letter in July that SpaceX was being given unfair advantages because NASA had just given SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to work with the agency to design and develop a lunar lander. In the letter, Blue Origin offered up to $2 billion in payments in the future if NASA changes their decision. Along with the letter, they also filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Office over NASA’s decision to work solely with SpaceX. 

Throughout the course of this issue many arguments have been made; however, the GAO concluded in July that NASA had done nothing wrong after NASA explained that their funds controlled how many awards were given out, thus only having enough money to give out a single award.

According to BBC News, NASA must still respond to Blue Origin’s suit by October 12; however, it is likely that the outcome will remain private because of the protective order given to Blue Origin.