Blue Origin's Second Rocket Launch Postponed Due to Poor Weather Conditions

Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse meteorological factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Reasons

Precipitation and a ground system issue caused early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been intensifying in recent months.

Rescheduled Attempt

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

Following the cancellation of the mission, the company announced late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.

Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished.

Previous Flight

The rocket's first launch in January was considered a success, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed tests.

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.

Landing Attempts

In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to recover the first stage.

Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.

Industry Competition

Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government push NASA to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against China.

More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”

“Additional missions means greater innovation in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”