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Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to unfavorable weather conditions at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch ended, leaving mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

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

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as early as Wednesday 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 carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.

Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Landing Attempts

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

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

Space Race

The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up bids for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration push the agency to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against China.

More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”

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