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Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Causes

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Competition between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.

Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as early as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, 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 reusable rocket landing, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.

Earlier Mission

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

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

Landing Attempts

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

Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Space Race

Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.

The current administration has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with China.

Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”

“More launches means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”