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The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of unfavorable weather factors at the Florida launch site.

Launch Delay Causes

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches starting Monday.

After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as soon as Wednesday within a window 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 Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.

The mission will also act as a key test of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.

Previous Flight

The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its payload reached space and successfully performed experiments.

But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.

Landing Attempts

For this new mission the launch provider will try once more to land the booster stage.

Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.

Industry Competition

The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has seen the administration push NASA to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation.

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

“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”