🔗 Share this article Blue Origin's Latest Mission Delayed Because of Inclement Weather Conditions The aerospace company, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of unfavorable meteorological factors at the Florida launch site. Mission Postponement Reasons Precipitation and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing managers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight. Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months. Rescheduled Attempt To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week. Following the cancellation of the mission, the company announced late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as early as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time. Mission Objectives When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort 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 crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful. Earlier Mission New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its payload reached space and completed tests. 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 descent. Landing Attempts In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to land the booster stage. Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that accomplishment. Industry Competition The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule. The current administration has involved the government pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against China. More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.” “More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”