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The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of adverse meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Causes

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

Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as soon as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

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

Earlier Mission

The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its cargo reached space and completed tests.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Landing Attempts

In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the first stage.

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

Industry Competition

The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

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

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

“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”