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Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of unfavorable meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To ease traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.

Following the cancellation of the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as early as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

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

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.

But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to recover the first stage.

Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has seen the government pile pressure on the agency to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface amid a race with China.

Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”

“More launches means greater innovation in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”