🔗 Share this article Jeff Bezos' Space Firm's Second Mission Postponed Because of Poor Atmospheric Situation Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to unfavorable meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral. Launch Delay Causes Rainfall and a ground system issue led to early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission. Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months. New Launch Window To ease airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday. After scrubbing the mission, the company announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time. Mission Objectives When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration. The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the company if accomplished. Earlier Mission New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed tests. But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent. Recovery Efforts For this new mission the launch provider will try once more to land the booster stage. Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that feat. Industry Competition The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, 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 lunar surface amid a race with China. Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.” “Additional missions means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”