Elon Musk vs. Jeff Bezos: Billionaires bid for NASA's space shuttle launchpad

Here's an epic fight that won't take place inside the octagon: Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are apparently competing to take over a NASA launchpad... and instead of dishing out jiu-jitsu moves, they're letting money do the talking. In particular, the dotcom billionaires' space companies, Blue Origin and SpaceX, are bidding for Kennedy Space Center's historic Launch Complex 39A -- site of NASA's first and last space shuttle blast-off. Each company's plan for 39A is to launch both unmanned missions and shuttles carrying commercial customers and astronaut crews into space. Bezos' Blue Origin, however, also aims to turn it into a multi-use facility where other companies can launch their rockets for a price. NASA's keeping bidding details on the down low, but seeing as it wants to offload 39A in October to save money, we'll know soon enough who'll win this battle of the dollars.

[Image credit: NASA]