🔗 Share this article Blue Origin's Second Rocket Launch Postponed Because of Poor Weather Conditions The aerospace company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site. Mission Postponement Reasons Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission. Competition between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying 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 Monday. Following the cancellation of the mission, the company said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time. Mission Objectives Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of sending people there. The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful. Earlier Mission New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed experiments. But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent. Landing Attempts In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the first stage. Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that accomplishment. Industry Competition The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was lagging behind. The current administration has involved the government push NASA to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against China. More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.” “Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”