The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has apparently selected Hawthorne-based Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif. -- headed by visionary CEO Elon Musk, who also leads electric automaker Tesla Motors -- to operate the historic Launch Complex 39A at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The move comes a day after a complaint about the space agency's bidding process for the launch site filed by Blue Origin, another commercial space transit company led by Jeff Bezos, founder of online retailer Amazon.com, was dismissed by the federal government's General Accountability Office.

A NASA release earlier today said NASA and SpaceX, the only commercial outfit so far to deliver payloads to the International Space Station orbiting Earth, will now begin to hammer out a lease and usage agreement.

The NASA release also explained the reuse of LC-39A "is part of NASA's work to transform the Kennedy Space Center into a 21st century launch complex capable of supporting both government and commercial users. Kennedy is having success attracting significant private sector interest in its unique facilities. The center is hard at work assembling NASA's Orion spacecraft and preparing its infrastructure for the Space Launch System rocket, which will launch from LC-39B and take American astronauts into deep space, including to an asteroid and Mars."

Allowing the use and operation of the location by a private-sector, commercial space partner "will ensure its continued viability and allow for its continued use in support of U.S. space activities," NASA said.

In September, Blue Origin filed a protest that noted concerns about the competitive process NASA was using to secure a potential commercial partner or partners to lease the Kennedy site. The company had argued the language in the Announcement for Proposals issued by the space agency favored one proposed use of LC-39A over others. The GAO disagreed, issueing the following statement:

"On Thursday December 12, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied a protest filed by Blue Origin, LLC, of Kent, Washington, challenging NASA's stated interpretation of an announcement for proposals (AFP) for the lease of Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Blue Origin maintained in its protest that the AFP provided for a preference in favor of a multi-user (as opposed to an exclusive use) approach to utilizing the launch pad. NASA took the position that neither approach was favored by the AFP. GAO agreed with NASA, and in its decision concluded that there was no preference for either approach, and that the AFP merely requires different information depending upon which approach is being offered.

"The GAO decision takes no position on the relative merits of the proposals that have been submitted to NASA. NASA currently is in the process of evaluating proposals submitted by Blue Origin and Space exploration Technologies Corporation, and the agency has, as yet, reached no conclusions."

While the GAO was reviewing the Blue Origin protest, NASA was prohibited from selecting a commercial partner for LC-39A from among the proposals that responded to the AFP, which had been issued last May. NASA was nonetheless able to evaluate the received proposals, which included one from SpaceX.

Earlier today, NASA notified all site applicants about its decision.

Since the late 1960s, Kennedy's launch pads 39 A and B have served as the starting point for America's most significant human spaceflight endeavors -- Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz and all 135 space shuttle missions. It was the the pad where Apollo 11 lifted off, on its way to the first manned moon landing in 1969.