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Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to unfavorable weather conditions at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Causes

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in recent months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To ease traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the mission, the company announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as early as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.

The mission will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if successful.

Earlier Mission

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a success, as its payload reached space and successfully performed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to land the booster stage.

Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that feat.

Industry Competition

The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration pile pressure on the agency to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.

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

“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”