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Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.

Launch Delay Reasons

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.

Competition between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.

Following the cancellation of the mission, the company said late Sunday that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as early as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.

Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a success, as its cargo reached space and completed 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 instead was lost during descent.

Recovery Efforts

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

Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that feat.

Industry Competition

Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has involved the government push the agency to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with China.

Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”

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