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Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of unfavorable meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Reasons

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in recent months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches starting Monday.

After scrubbing the launch, the company announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as early as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.

The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.

Earlier Mission

The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed experiments.

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent.

Landing Attempts

For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the booster stage.

Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Space Race

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

The current administration has seen the administration pile pressure on NASA to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface amid a race with China.

More rivalry 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 not in the lead.”