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Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to adverse weather factors at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Reasons

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

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

New Launch Window

To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.

After scrubbing the launch, the company said late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as early as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.

The mission will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would prove a major advancement for the company if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.

But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Landing Attempts

In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the first stage.

Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.

Space Race

The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against China.

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

“More launches means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”