🔗 Share this article

The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to adverse meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Causes

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company 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 limiting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

Following the cancellation of the launch, the company said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as early as midweek within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.

The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.

Previous Flight

The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.

But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Recovery Efforts

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

Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.

Space Race

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

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration push NASA to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against China.

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

“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”