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The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to unfavorable weather factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Causes

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Competition between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches from Monday.

Following the cancellation of the mission, the company said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

The mission will also act as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its payload reached space and successfully performed tests.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Landing Attempts

For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the first stage.

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

Space Race

The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.

The current administration has involved the government pile pressure on the agency to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.

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

“More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”