🔗 Share this article Blue Origin's Latest Mission Delayed Due to Inclement Weather Conditions Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable weather conditions at Cape Canaveral. Launch Delay Reasons Rainfall and a ground system issue caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight. Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in recent months. New Launch Window To relieve airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week. Following the cancellation of the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting a new try as soon as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST. Mission Objectives When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration. Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished. Previous Flight New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed experiments. But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase. Landing Attempts For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to land the first stage. Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that feat. Industry Competition Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind. Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government push the agency to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against China. Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.” “Additional missions means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”