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The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of unfavorable weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Causes

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.

Rescheduled Attempt

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

Following the cancellation of the launch, the company said late Sunday that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as early as midweek within a window of afternoon hours EST.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.

Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.

Previous Flight

The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent.

Landing Attempts

For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the booster stage.

Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.

Space Race

The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.

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

“Additional missions means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”