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Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of unfavorable weather factors at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Causes

Rainfall and a ground system issue caused early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months.

New Launch Window

To relieve airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches from Monday.

Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as soon as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

The mission will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a success, as its payload achieved orbit and completed experiments.

But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Landing Attempts

In its second effort 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 billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with China.

More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”

“More launches means greater innovation in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”