🔗 Share this article

The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of adverse meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Causes

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

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

Rescheduled Attempt

To ease airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the launch, the company announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of sending people there.

Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished.

Earlier Mission

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

But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Landing Attempts

In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to land the booster stage.

Until now, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was lagging behind.

The current administration has involved the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation.

More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”

“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”