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Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to adverse meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Causes

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

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

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches starting Monday.

After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as soon as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.

The mission will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a success, as its cargo reached space and completed tests.

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

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

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

Space Race

The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has seen the administration push the agency to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with China.

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

“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”