🔗 Share this article

The aerospace company, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of unfavorable meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Precipitation and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing managers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.

New Launch Window

To relieve traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as early as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport 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 key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.

Earlier Mission

The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a achievement, as its payload reached space and successfully performed tests.

But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.

Landing Attempts

In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.

Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

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

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.

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

“More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”