🔗 Share this article

Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to unfavorable weather factors 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 closed, forcing managers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.

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

Rescheduled Attempt

To ease airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as early as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there.

Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a achievement, as its cargo reached space and completed tests.

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the booster stage.

Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

The competing companies of tycoons 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, 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 send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with China.

More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”

“Additional missions means greater innovation in space,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”