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Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of adverse meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Causes

Precipitation and a ground system issue led to initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving managers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in recent months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To ease traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting private space launches from the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as soon as midweek within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.

The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished.

Previous Flight

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

But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.

Recovery Efforts

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

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

Industry Competition

The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has involved the administration pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation.

Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”

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