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Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of unfavorable meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Reasons

Rainfall and a ground system issue caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Competition between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in recent months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To ease airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

Following the cancellation of the launch, the company announced late Sunday that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting a new try as early as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.

The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.

Previous Flight

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

But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to land the first stage.

Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has involved the government push NASA to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.

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

“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”