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The bid was on between Jeff Bezos, the big man behind Amazon and Blue Origin (his space exploration company), and SpaceX’s Elon Musk to win NASA’s contract to take people to the moon again.

The space race hasn’t been a thing since humans first landed on the moon in 1969, with our last landing way back in 1972.

Now NASA has set up this reward, called the Human Landing System, for the big space companies out there to compete and get their rockets up by as early as 2024.

Musk ended up winning the contract and Bezos was a rather sore loser.

According to Reuters, on Monday, Bezos’ Blue Origin filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), accusing NASA of moving the goalposts for contract bidders at the last minute.

Here’s what Blue Origin said in an emailed statement:

“NASA has executed a flawed acquisition for the Human Landing System program and moved the goalposts at the last minute.”

“Their decision eliminates opportunities for competition, significantly narrows the supply base, and not only delays, but also endangers America’s return to the moon. Because of that, we’ve filed a protest with the GAO.”

This isn’t the first time these guys have had a tiff about who is “stifling competition”.

Musk, who is known to love some banter on Twitter, responded to the news with a little jab at Bezos’ manhood:

Can’t get it up (to orbit) lol

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2021

The world’s third-richest man (according to Forbes’ real-time tracker), cracking a joke about the richest man in the world’s penis.

2021, everybody.

The legal challenge seems to suggest that NASA didn’t treat the bid fairly, according to The Washinton Post:

In the protest, filed with the Government Accountability Office, the company said that NASA failed to allow the competitors “to meaningfully compete for an award when the Agency’s requirements changed due to its undisclosed, perceived shortfall of funding for the multi-year program lifecycle.”

It also alleged that NASA “changed the weight accorded to evaluation factors to make price (cost to the Government) the most important factor because of perceived funding limitations.”

This is a good time to mention that The Washington Post is owned by Bezos.

NASA hasn’t made a statement about the allegations “due to the pending litigation”, so for now, Musk is still the only one who will get his rockets up to the moon.

[sources:reuters&thewashingtonpost]