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Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of unfavorable meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Causes

Rainfall and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, leaving managers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in the past few months.

New Launch Window

To ease airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.

Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as early as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

The mission will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.

Earlier Mission

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed tests.

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

Landing Attempts

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

Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government push the agency to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.

More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”

“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”