🔗 Share this article Jeff Bezos' Space Firm's Latest Rocket Launch Postponed Due to Inclement Weather Conditions Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral. Launch Delay Causes Rainfall and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing managers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight. Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months. New Launch Window To relieve traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week. Following the cancellation of the mission, the company said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a window of afternoon hours EST. Mission Objectives Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there. 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 The rocket's first launch in January was considered a success, as its payload reached space and completed experiments. But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase. Landing Attempts For this new mission the launch provider will try once more to land the first stage. Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment. Space Race The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos 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, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule. The current administration has involved the government pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation. More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.” “Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”