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The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to adverse meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.

Launch Delay Reasons

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To ease airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

Following the cancellation of the mission, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as early as Wednesday within a window 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 planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.

Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished.

Earlier Mission

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

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

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the first stage.

Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat.

Industry Competition

The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was lagging behind.

The current administration has seen the government push the agency to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation.

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

“Additional missions means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”