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Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Causes

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

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

New Launch Window

To ease airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.

After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as early as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.

The mission will also act as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if successful.

Earlier Mission

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its payload reached space and completed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to recover the first stage.

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

Industry Competition

Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

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

Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”

“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”