---
title: "Elon Musk, Who Brutally Mocked Jeff Bezos’ Space Company for Suing the Government, Is Now Suing the Government With His Own Space Company"
description: "SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is vowing to sue the Federal Aviation Administration after they slapped him with violating certain arcane regulations."
date: "2024-09-20"
modified: "2024-09-20"
authors:
  - name: "Sharon Adarlo"
    job_title: "Correspondent"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/sadarlo"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-jeff-bezos-government-lawsuit"
categories:
  - "Elon Musk"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Jeff Bezos"
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "elon musk"
  - "jeff bezos"
  - "SpaceX"
  - "the digest"
---

# Elon Musk, Who Brutally Mocked Jeff Bezos’ Space Company for Suing the Government, Is Now Suing the Government With His Own Space Company

![SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is vowing to sue the Federal Aviation Administration after they slapped him with violating certain arcane regulations.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/elon-musk-jeff-bezos-government-lawsuit.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Jesse Grant / Hollywood Reporter via Getty\</em\>*

## Space Suit

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk [has long fought](<https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-elon-musk-rivalry-history-timeline-2020-7>) with fellow tech titan Jeff Bezos and his commercial space company Blue Origin, with Musk lobbing insults like "[Sue Origin](<https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1805650134828728488>)" and quipping that his rival "[can't get it up](<https://futurism.com/elon-musk-just-said-that-jeff-bezos-cant-get-it-up>)."

One key broadside by Musk: that Bezos has used legal maneuvering to prop up his technically challenged venture, like when [Blue Origin sued NASA](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-head-confirms-blue-origin-lawsuit-will-delay-moon-program>) over its decision to award SpaceX with a contract to land astronauts on the Moon.

But now the shoe is on the other foot, with Musk [vowing to sue](<https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/17/elon-musk-says-spacex-will-sue-faa-for-regulatory-overreach.html>) the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after they slapped him with violating certain regulations — which is pretty rich coming from Musk after all the trash he's talked about Bezos' "lawfare."

"I am highly confident that discovery will show improper, politically-motivated behavior by the FAA," [Musk fumed](<https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1836116841221038532>) about his own suit this week.

## Race to the Stars

Musk's anger towards the FAA stems from the long shadow it's cast over the development of his experimental Starship rocket, like when the [agency slapped SpaceX with up to $633,000 in civil fines](<https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-proposes-633009-civil-penalties-against-spacex>) for using an unapproved control room and a "rocket propellant farm" that hadn't been given the green light.

In his other dealings with the FAA, Musk has sometimes come up on top, including when [he pitted the FAA against the US Fish and Wildlife Service](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/investigation-elon-musk-rocket-testing>), the latter of which was concerned about environmental damage around SpaceX's launch site in Texas from rockets setting fire to the landscape during test flights.

Musk does have a history of suing people as a bullying tactic to get his way, such as [his lawsuit against the National Labor Relations Board stemming](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-sues-nlrb>) over [SpaceX firing employees who were critical of Musk](<https://futurism.com/former-employees-sue-spacex-fired-sexual-harassment>).

And that's why it's funny, in an ironic way, that Musk would protest Bezos' Blue Origin for suing the government space industry — before doing exactly the same thing himself.

**More on Elon Musk and SpaceX:** [*Elon Musk Says Starship, Which Has Never Launched Into Orbit and Then Landed on Earth Without Crashing, Will Be Landing on Mars by 2026*](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-starship-landing-mars-2026>)