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Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of unfavorable weather factors at the Florida launch site.

Launch Delay Causes

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

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

Rescheduled Attempt

To ease traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.

Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.

The mission will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the company if successful.

Earlier Mission

The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and completed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.

Landing Attempts

For this new mission the launch provider will try once more to recover the first stage.

Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has seen the administration push the agency to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with China.

Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”

“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”