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Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of adverse weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Causes

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

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

Rescheduled Attempt

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

After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as early as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, 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 serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if accomplished.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Recovery Efforts

In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to land the booster stage.

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

Industry Competition

Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, noting that one company was falling behind schedule.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government push the agency to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation.

More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”

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