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Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of adverse meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Competition between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months.

New Launch Window

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

After scrubbing the launch, the company said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.

Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if successful.

Earlier Mission

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a success, as its payload achieved orbit and completed experiments.

But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the first stage.

Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that feat.

Industry Competition

Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.

The current administration has involved the government pile pressure on the agency to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.

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

“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”