Sierra Nevada Corp. filed a protest of a major NASA contract late Friday, saying its proposal to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station would save money and should be given further consideration.

This month, NASA awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX under what is called the commercial crew program, which would allow the United States, for the first time since the space shuttle was retired three years ago, to launch astronauts into space from U.S. soil.

The contract would end the United Statess reliance on Russia, which charges more than $70million a seat for trips to the space station aboard its Soyuz craft.

Boeings contract is worth up to $4.2billion; SpaceX, which said it could perform the work for far less, was awarded a contract valued at $2.6billion.

In announcing its protest in a statement, Sierra Nevada noted that it had never filed a legal challenge to a government contract award in its 51-year history.

The Nevada-based company said it was compelled to file a protest with the Government Accountability Office because of serious questions and inconsistencies in the source selection process. Sierra Nevadas proposal was the second-lowest-priced, the company said, while it achieved mission suitability scores comparable to the other two proposals.

The award by NASA would mean the U.S. government would spend up to $900million more at the publicly announced contracted level for a space program equivalent to the program that [Sierra Nevada] proposed, the statement said.

Unlike SpaceX and Boeing, which would use capsules to dock to the space station, Sierra Nevada proposes using a reusable miniature shuttle, or space plane, called the Dream Chaser. The craft provides a wider range of capabilities and value, the statement said.

A NASA spokeswoman declined to comment.

Christian Davenport covers federal contracting for The Post's Financial desk.

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Sierra Nevada Corp. protests NASA space contract awarded to Boeing, SpaceX