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

Launch Delay Causes

Rainfall and a ground system issue caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.

Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.

New Launch Window

To ease airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as soon as Wednesday within a window of afternoon hours EST.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.

Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed 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 instead was lost during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to land the first stage.

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

Space Race

The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration push the agency to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface amid a race with China.

More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to launch.”

“Additional missions means greater innovation in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”