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Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Rainfall and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

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

New Launch Window

To relieve traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting 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 early as Wednesday within a window of afternoon hours EST.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.

The mission will also act as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its cargo reached space and completed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Recovery Efforts

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

Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government pile pressure on the agency to accelerate its timeline 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 launch.”

“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”