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Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Rainfall and a ground system issue caused early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, 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 recent months.

New Launch Window

To relieve traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches from Monday.

Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.

Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.

Previous Flight

The rocket's first launch in January was considered a success, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.

Recovery Efforts

In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the first stage.

Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.

Space Race

Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA opened up proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government push NASA to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against China.

Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”

“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”