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Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of adverse weather conditions at the Florida launch site.

Launch Delay Causes

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

Competition between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.

New Launch Window

To ease traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.

Following the cancellation of the mission, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting a new try as early as Wednesday within a window of afternoon hours EST.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.

The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if successful.

Previous Flight

The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a success, as its payload achieved orbit and completed tests.

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.

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

Space Race

Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has seen the administration pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with China.

Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”

“More launches means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”