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The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of unfavorable weather factors at the Florida launch site.

Launch Delay Causes

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 managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.

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

New Launch Window

To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.

Following the cancellation of the mission, the company announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of sending people there.

The mission will also act as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.

Earlier Mission

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed tests.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Landing Attempts

In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to recover the first stage.

Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.

Industry Competition

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

The current administration has involved the government push NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against China.

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

“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”