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Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Reasons

Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.

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

New Launch Window

To relieve airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches starting Monday.

After scrubbing the mission, the company announced late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to study the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.

Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.

Earlier Mission

The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed tests.

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the first stage.

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

Industry Competition

The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.

The current administration has seen the administration pile pressure on the agency to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with China.

More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”

“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”