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Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to adverse meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.

Launch Delay Reasons

Precipitation and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.

New Launch Window

To relieve traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the launch, the company announced late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport 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.

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

Earlier Mission

The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a success, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed tests.

But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.

Landing Attempts

In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to land the first stage.

Until now, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has seen the administration pile pressure on the agency to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface amid a race with China.

Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”

“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”