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

Launch Delay Reasons

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

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

New Launch Window

To ease traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the mission, the company announced late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as early as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.

Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed experiments.

But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent.

Recovery Efforts

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

Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.

Space Race

The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration pile pressure on the agency to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.

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

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