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Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to unfavorable meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Causes

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.

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

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.

After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of sending people there.

The mission will also act as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished.

Earlier Mission

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Landing Attempts

In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to recover the first stage.

Until now, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has seen the administration push NASA to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.

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

“More launches means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”