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Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Reasons

Precipitation and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.

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

New Launch Window

To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.

After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of sending people there.

The mission will also serve 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 marked as a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed tests.

But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.

Landing Attempts

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

Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Space Race

The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has involved the administration push NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface 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 space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”