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Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of adverse weather factors at Cape Canaveral.

Launch Delay Causes

Precipitation and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving managers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Competition between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.

New Launch Window

To ease traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.

Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, in an effort to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of sending people there.

Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if successful.

Earlier Mission

The rocket's first launch in January was considered a success, as its payload reached space and successfully performed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.

Recovery Efforts

In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.

Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has seen the administration pile pressure on NASA to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.

Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to launch.”

“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”