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Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of adverse meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Causes

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

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

New Launch Window

To relieve traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the mission, the company announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as soon as Wednesday within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Launch Goals

When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.

The mission will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if successful.

Previous Flight

The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed experiments.

But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the first stage.

Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.

Industry Competition

Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.

The current administration has involved the administration push 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.”

“More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”