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The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to unfavorable meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Rainfall and a ground system issue caused early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.

New Launch Window

To relieve airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.

Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as early as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a achievement, as its cargo reached space and completed tests.

But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent.

Landing Attempts

For this new mission the launch provider will try once more to recover the booster stage.

Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat.

Space Race

The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.

The current administration has involved the administration pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.

More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”

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