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The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to adverse weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Causes

Rainfall and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in recent months.

New Launch Window

To relieve traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is limiting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as early as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

The mission will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would prove a major advancement for the company if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its landing 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.

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

Space Race

Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has seen the administration push the agency to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation.

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

“More launches means greater innovation in space,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”