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Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Causes

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

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 from Monday.

After scrubbing the launch, the company said late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as early as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

The mission will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if successful.

Previous Flight

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

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

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

Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.

Space Race

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

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration push the agency to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against China.

Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”

“More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”