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The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to unfavorable weather factors at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as soon as midweek within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.

Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.

Previous Flight

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

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent.

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the booster stage.

Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat.

Industry Competition

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

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government push the agency to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with China.

More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to launch.”

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