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Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

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

New Launch Window

To ease traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.

After scrubbing the mission, the company announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, 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 reusable rocket landing, which would prove a major advancement for the company if accomplished.

Previous Flight

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

But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Landing Attempts

For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the booster stage.

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

Space Race

Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration pile pressure on NASA to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with China.

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

“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”