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The aerospace company, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to unfavorable weather conditions at the Florida launch site.

Launch Delay Reasons

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.

Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To ease airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting private space launches starting Monday.

Following the cancellation of the launch, the company announced 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.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.

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

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.

Landing Attempts

In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to land the booster stage.

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

Industry Competition

The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was falling behind schedule.

Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation.

Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to launch.”

“More launches means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”