🔗 Share this article Jeff Bezos' Space Firm's Second Mission Delayed Because of Inclement Weather Conditions The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of unfavorable weather conditions at the Florida launch site. Launch Delay Reasons Rainfall and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch ended, leaving managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission. Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months. Rescheduled Attempt To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches starting Monday. Following the cancellation of the mission, the company announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as early as Wednesday within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time. Mission Objectives Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration. The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished. Previous Flight New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed 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 descent. Recovery Efforts For this new mission the launch provider will try once more to recover the first stage. Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment. Space Race Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was falling behind schedule. The current administration has involved the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation. More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.” “More launches means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”