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Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of unfavorable weather factors at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Causes

Precipitation and a ground system issue caused early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To ease airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches from Monday.

After scrubbing the mission, the company announced late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as early as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

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 Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.

The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a success, as its payload reached space and successfully performed tests.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.

Landing Attempts

In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the first stage.

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

Industry Competition

Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has seen the administration push NASA to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon 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,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”