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The aerospace company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Causes

Rainfall and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company 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 private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the mission, the company announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.

The mission will also act as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if successful.

Previous Flight

The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Landing Attempts

For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the booster stage.

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

Space Race

The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission 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 said. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”