🔗 Share this article Blue Origin's Second Mission Postponed Because of Poor Atmospheric Situation Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable weather conditions at the Florida launch site. Mission Postponement Reasons Precipitation and a ground system issue led to initial delays, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch ended, leaving managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission. Rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months. Rescheduled Attempt To relieve traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches starting Monday. Following the cancellation of the mission, the company announced late Sunday that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST. Mission Objectives When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration. Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if successful. Previous Flight The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its payload reached space and successfully performed tests. But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent. Landing Attempts For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the first stage. Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that accomplishment. Industry Competition The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule. The current administration has seen the government push the agency to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with China. Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.” “Additional missions means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”