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Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.

Mission Postponement Causes

Rainfall and a ground system issue caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds 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 intensifying in recent months.

New Launch Window

To relieve airspace congestion amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.

Following the cancellation of the launch, the company announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as early as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.

Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a achievement, as its payload reached space and completed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent.

Recovery Efforts

In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to land the first stage.

Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that feat.

Industry Competition

Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency began accepting bids for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration push NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with China.

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

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