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The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of unfavorable weather conditions at the Florida launch site.

Launch Delay Reasons

Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Competition between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.

New Launch Window

To ease airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting private space launches from the beginning of the week.

Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.

The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished.

Previous Flight

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

But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.

Landing Attempts

For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.

Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Space Race

Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government push the agency to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.

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

“More launches means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”