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Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of adverse weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Causes

Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.

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

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the mission, the company announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting a new try as soon as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, in an effort to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.

The mission will also act as a key test of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a achievement, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed experiments.

But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.

Landing Attempts

In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to recover the first stage.

Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration pile pressure on the agency to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts 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 greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”