🔗 Share this article Jeff Bezos' Space Firm's Second Mission Postponed Because of Inclement Weather Conditions Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to unfavorable meteorological factors at the Florida launch site. Mission Postponement Reasons Precipitation and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission. Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months. Rescheduled Attempt To relieve airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches from Monday. After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time. Mission Objectives When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration. Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful. Previous Flight New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed experiments. But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent. Landing Attempts In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the first stage. Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment. Space Race Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind. The current administration has seen the government push NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against China. Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.” “Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”