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The aerospace company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable weather factors at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Causes

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch ended, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.

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

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

The mission will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished.

Earlier Mission

The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a success, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed experiments.

But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.

Recovery Efforts

In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to recover the first stage.

Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that feat.

Space Race

Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has seen the administration push the agency to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with China.

More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”

“Additional missions means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”