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Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of unfavorable meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Rainfall and a ground system issue caused early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.

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

New Launch Window

To ease airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches starting Monday.

After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as early as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

The mission will also act as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if successful.

Earlier Mission

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a achievement, as its cargo reached space and completed tests.

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

Landing Attempts

In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the first stage.

Until now, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government push NASA to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.

More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”

“More launches means greater innovation in space,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”