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Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable weather factors at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Causes

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in recent months.

New Launch Window

To ease traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches from Monday.

After scrubbing the mission, the company said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

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, to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.

Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.

Previous Flight

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

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Landing Attempts

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

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

Industry Competition

The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has seen the administration push the agency to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against China.

Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to launch.”

“More launches means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”