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Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Causes

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.

New Launch Window

To relieve traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches from Monday.

After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial 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 the start of the year was considered a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Landing Attempts

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

Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.

Space Race

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

The current administration has involved the government push the agency to accelerate its progress 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.”

“More launches means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”