🔗 Share this article Jeff Bezos' Space Firm's Second Mission Postponed Because of Poor Atmospheric Situation Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of unfavorable meteorological factors at the Florida launch site. Launch Delay Reasons Precipitation and a ground system issue caused initial delays, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission. Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months. New Launch Window To ease airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday. Following the cancellation of the launch, the company said late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as soon as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST. Mission Objectives When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration. The mission will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished. Previous Flight New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments. But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent. Landing Attempts In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the booster stage. Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat. Industry Competition The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind. The current administration has seen the government push the agency to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against China. Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.” “More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”