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The aerospace company, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of unfavorable weather conditions at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving mission controllers to reschedule 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 ease airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches from Monday.

After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as early as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.

Blue Origin’s launch 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 accomplished.

Previous Flight

The rocket's first launch in January was considered a success, as its payload reached space and completed tests.

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Landing Attempts

For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to land the booster stage.

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

Industry Competition

Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.

The current administration has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with China.

More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”

“More launches means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”