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The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse weather conditions at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Precipitation and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.

New Launch Window

To relieve traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.

Following the cancellation of the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as early as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.

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

Earlier Mission

The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a success, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to recover the first stage.

Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that feat.

Industry Competition

The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA opened up proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that one company was lagging behind.

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

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

“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”