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Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse weather factors at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Causes

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.

New Launch Window

To relieve traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.

Following the cancellation of the mission, 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 time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.

The mission will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and completed tests.

But its first-stage booster, 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.

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the first stage.

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

Space Race

The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against China.

Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”

“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”