🔗 Share this article

Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of adverse weather factors at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Causes

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.

New Launch Window

To ease airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches from the beginning of the week.

Following the cancellation of the mission, the company announced late Sunday that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting 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 two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.

The mission will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the company if accomplished.

Previous Flight

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

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

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the first stage.

Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that feat.

Space Race

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

The current administration has seen the administration push NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against China.

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

“More launches means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”