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Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of adverse meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.

Launch Delay Reasons

Precipitation and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.

New Launch Window

To relieve airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches from Monday.

Following the cancellation of the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as early as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.

Earlier Mission

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its cargo reached space and completed tests.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Landing Attempts

In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to recover the first stage.

Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Space Race

The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has seen the administration push NASA to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.

Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”

“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”