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The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Rainfall and a ground system issue led to initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, leaving managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.

Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To ease airspace congestion 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, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

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

Earlier Mission

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

But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

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

Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.

Space Race

Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged 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.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration push the agency to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface amid a race with China.

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

“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”