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Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to adverse meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.

Launch Delay Reasons

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, leaving mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.

Following the cancellation of the launch, the company announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting a new try as soon as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.

Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.

Earlier Mission

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a success, as its payload reached space and completed experiments.

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

Landing Attempts

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

Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

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

The current administration has involved the government pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.

Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”

“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”