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Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to adverse weather factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Reasons

Rainfall and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

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

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is limiting private space launches from the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Launch Goals

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

Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished.

Earlier Mission

The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a achievement, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent.

Landing Attempts

In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.

Until now, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.

The current administration has seen the administration push NASA to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation.

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

“More launches means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”