🔗 Share this article Blue Origin's Second Mission Postponed Because of Inclement Weather Conditions The aerospace company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to adverse weather conditions at the Florida launch site. Launch Delay Reasons Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission. Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months. New Launch Window To relieve traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday. After scrubbing the mission, the company announced late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as early as midweek within a time slot 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, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration. Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if accomplished. Earlier Mission New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments. But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent. Landing Attempts For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the booster stage. Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that feat. Industry Competition Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was lagging behind. Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation. More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.” “More launches means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”