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The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of unfavorable meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Reasons

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

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

New Launch Window

To relieve traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches starting Monday.

Following the cancellation of the mission, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting a new try as soon as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.

Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent 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 successfully performed experiments.

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Landing Attempts

For this new mission the launch provider will try once more to recover the booster stage.

Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.

Space Race

The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency opened up proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government pile pressure on the agency to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.

Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”

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