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Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited launch of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of unfavorable meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Reasons

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

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

Rescheduled Attempt

To ease traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.

After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as early as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.

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

Previous Flight

The rocket's first launch in January was considered a success, as its payload reached space and completed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land 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 lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government push NASA to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with China.

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

“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”