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Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to adverse weather conditions at the Florida launch site.

Launch Delay Causes

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.

New Launch Window

To ease traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as soon as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

The mission will also act 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 considered a success, as its cargo reached space and completed tests.

But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.

Landing Attempts

For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to recover the booster stage.

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

Industry Competition

The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was lagging behind.

The current administration has involved the government pile pressure on NASA to accelerate 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.”

“More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”