🔗 Share this article Blue Origin's Second Mission Postponed Because of Inclement Atmospheric Situation Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of unfavorable meteorological factors at the Florida launch site. Mission Postponement Causes Rainfall and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight. Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months. Rescheduled Attempt To relieve traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches from Monday. After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as early as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST. Mission Objectives When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’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 serve as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if accomplished. Earlier Mission New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed tests. But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase. Recovery Efforts For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the booster stage. Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment. Space Race Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was lagging behind. Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation. Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.” “More launches means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”