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Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of unfavorable meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Causes

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the launch, the company announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as early as midweek within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.

Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished.

Earlier Mission

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the first stage.

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

Industry Competition

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

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration push the agency to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with China.

Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”

“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”