🔗 Share this article Jeff Bezos' Space Firm's Second Rocket Launch Delayed Due to Inclement Weather Conditions Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to unfavorable weather factors at Cape Canaveral. Launch Delay Reasons Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch ended, leaving mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission. Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in recent months. Rescheduled Attempt To relieve traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches from the beginning of the week. Following the cancellation of the launch, the company announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST. Launch Goals Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of sending people there. Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if successful. Earlier Mission New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed tests. But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during the return phase. Landing Attempts For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the first stage. Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment. Industry Competition The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule. The current administration has seen the administration push NASA to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation. Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.” “More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”