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Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of unfavorable meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.

Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.

New Launch Window

To ease traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.

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

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed experiments.

But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.

Recovery Efforts

In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the first stage.

Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.

Industry Competition

The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government push NASA to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.

More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”

“More launches means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”