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Blue Origin, owned by billionaire 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

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

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

New Launch Window

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

Following the cancellation of the launch, the company announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.

The mission will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a major advancement for the company if successful.

Previous Flight

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

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.

Landing Attempts

In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to recover the booster stage.

Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was lagging behind.

The current administration has seen the government pile pressure on the agency to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.

More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to launch.”

“More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”