🔗 Share this article

Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to unfavorable weather factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Causes

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.

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

New Launch Window

To ease airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches from Monday.

Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as soon as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

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

Earlier Mission

The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its payload reached space and completed tests.

But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Landing Attempts

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

Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Space Race

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

The current administration has involved the government pile pressure on the agency to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.

Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”

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