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The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.

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

New Launch Window

To ease airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.

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

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Recovery Efforts

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

Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.

Space Race

Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has seen the administration push the agency to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against China.

Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”

“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”