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Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of unfavorable weather factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Reasons

Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Competition between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.

New Launch Window

To relieve airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches starting Monday.

After scrubbing the mission, the company said late Sunday that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.

Earlier Mission

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

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the first stage.

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

Space Race

The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has seen the administration pile pressure on the agency to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.

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

“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”