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The aerospace company, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Reasons

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

Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.

New Launch Window

To ease airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.

After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as soon as midweek within a window of afternoon hours EST.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished.

Earlier Mission

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a achievement, as its payload reached space and completed experiments.

But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the booster 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 commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration push NASA to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against China.

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

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