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Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to adverse weather factors at the Florida launch site.

Launch Delay Causes

Rainfall and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

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

Rescheduled Attempt

To ease traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches starting Monday.

After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as early as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.

The mission will also act as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if accomplished.

Previous Flight

The rocket's first launch in January was considered a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.

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

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the booster stage.

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

Industry Competition

Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.

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

Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”

“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”