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

Launch Delay Causes

Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in recent months.

New Launch Window

To relieve airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.

Following the cancellation of the mission, the company said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.

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 company if accomplished.

Earlier Mission

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

But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Landing Attempts

For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to land the booster stage.

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

Industry Competition

The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was lagging behind.

The current administration has seen the administration push the agency to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with China.

Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”

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