🔗 Share this article

Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to adverse weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Causes

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months.

New Launch Window

To ease traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches from Monday.

Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as early as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to study 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 whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed experiments.

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

Recovery Efforts

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

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

Space Race

The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.

The current administration has seen the government push the agency to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against China.

More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”

“More launches means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”