Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) recently released a statement legally challenging NASA’s decision to award contracts to both Boeing and SpaceX under the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) program.

According to the statement, SNC, Boeing, and SpaceX all submitted separate proposals for the CCtCap program, which would help to restore United States-based human spaceflight capabilities and cease dependence on Russia to fly United States astronauts to the International Space Station.

While SNC officials believe they were confidently in the running, NASA awarded Boeing and SpaceX the contracts to continue on with the program. According to the statement, SNC has never filed a legal challenge to a government contract award in its 51-year history. In the case of the CCtCap award, however, the company felt too strongly about the proposal to stand aside.

One reason for the company’s challenge is the financial advantage compared to the Boeing Company, citing that they had the second lowest priced proposal in the CCtCap competition. “With the current awards, the U.S. government would spend up to $900 million more at the publicly announced contracted level for a space program equivalent to the program that SNC proposed,” the company said in the statement. “Given those facts, we believe that a thorough review must be conducted of the award decision.”

The company then goes on to describe the benefits of their proposed Dream Chaser spacecraft design, with an emphasis on tradition. “SNC’s Dream Chaser design provides a wider range of capabilities and value including preserving the heritage of the space shuttle program through its design as a piloted, reusable, lifting-body spacecraft that embodies the advanced technologies of today and flexibility that enables the innovations of the future.”

“The company feels it owes this extra effort to their employees, the over 30 Dream Team U.S. industry partners, 10 university partners, 10 international space agency and industry partners – all of whom believe in Dream Chaser and that the proposal that was submitted by SNC is the best choice for NASA and the American public.”

According to BBC News, NASA has 30 days to respond to the legal challenge, with the expected ruling to be issued early Jan. 2015.