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The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of unfavorable weather factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Reasons

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving managers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in recent months.

New Launch Window

To ease traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting private space launches from Monday.

After scrubbing the mission, the company announced late Sunday that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.

Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a major advancement for the company if successful.

Earlier Mission

The rocket's first launch in January was considered a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission the launch provider will try once more to recover the booster stage.

Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.

Space Race

Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has involved the administration push NASA to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation.

More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”

“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”