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Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Reasons

Precipitation and a ground system issue led to initial delays, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

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

Rescheduled Attempt

To ease traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting a new try as soon as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.

The mission will also act as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.

But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.

Landing Attempts

For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the first stage.

Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.

Space Race

The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was lagging behind.

The current administration has seen the government push the agency to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.

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

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