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The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to adverse meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.

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

New Launch Window

To ease traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as soon as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.

The mission will also act as a key test of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the company if accomplished.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.

But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to recover the booster stage.

Until now, only SpaceX has managed that feat.

Industry Competition

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

Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government push the agency to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.

More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”

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