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Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to adverse weather factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Causes

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.

Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in recent months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is limiting private space launches starting Monday.

After scrubbing the launch, the company said late Sunday that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.

The mission will also act as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement 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 first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Landing Attempts

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

Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.

Industry Competition

The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.

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

More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”

“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”