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

Mission Postponement Reasons

Rainfall and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in recent months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.

Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal 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 firm if accomplished.

Earlier Mission

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

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

Recovery Efforts

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

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

Space Race

The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency opened up proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration push NASA to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.

More rivalry 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 negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”