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Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Rainfall and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.

New Launch Window

To relieve airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.

Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.

Earlier Mission

The rocket's first launch in January was considered a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.

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

Recovery Efforts

In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to land the booster stage.

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

Space Race

The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting bids 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 the agency to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against China.

Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to launch.”

“More launches means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”