🔗 Share this article Blue Origin's Second Rocket Launch Delayed Due to Inclement Weather Conditions The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to adverse weather conditions at Cape Canaveral. Mission Postponement Reasons Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, leaving mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission. Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months. New Launch Window To ease traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches starting the beginning of the week. Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as early as midweek 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 two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there. Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished. Previous Flight New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a success, as its payload achieved orbit and completed experiments. But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent. Recovery Efforts For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the booster stage. Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat. Industry Competition Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was falling behind schedule. The current administration has seen the administration push NASA to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against China. Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.” “Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”