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Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to adverse weather conditions at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Rainfall and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as early as Wednesday within a window of afternoon hours EST.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.

The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished.

Previous Flight

The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a success, as its payload achieved orbit and completed tests.

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Landing Attempts

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

Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.

Space Race

The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.

The current administration has seen the administration pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.

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

“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”