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The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of unfavorable meteorological conditions at the Florida launch site.

Launch Delay Causes

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

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

New Launch Window

To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting private space launches from Monday.

After scrubbing the launch, the company said late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST.

Launch Goals

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.

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

Earlier Mission

The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the ocean, 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 SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.

Space Race

Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up bids for its planned moon mission, noting that one company was lagging behind.

The current administration has seen the government pile pressure on the agency to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon in competition against China.

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

“More launches means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”