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The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Causes

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.

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

Rescheduled Attempt

To ease traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the launch, the company said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as soon as midweek within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to study 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.

Previous Flight

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

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Recovery Efforts

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

Until now, only SpaceX has managed that feat.

Industry Competition

Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has seen the administration push NASA to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against 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 said. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”