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Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Causes

Rainfall and a ground system issue led to initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.

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

New Launch Window

To relieve airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.

Following the cancellation of the launch, the company said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as early as Wednesday within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.

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

Previous Flight

The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a success, as its payload achieved orbit and completed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.

Landing Attempts

In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to recover the first stage.

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

Industry Competition

The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.

Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against China.

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

“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”