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The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of unfavorable weather factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Causes

Rainfall and a ground system issue caused early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving managers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been intensifying in the past few months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches starting Monday.

Following the cancellation of the launch, the company announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as early as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket 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 sending people there.

Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.

Earlier Mission

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed tests.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to land the booster stage.

Until now, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency opened up bids 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 progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.

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

“Additional missions 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.”