🔗 Share this article Jeff Bezos' Space Firm's Latest Rocket Launch Postponed Due to Poor Atmospheric Situation Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of unfavorable weather conditions at the Florida launch site. Mission Postponement Reasons Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving managers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission. Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in recent months. Rescheduled Attempt To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week. Following the cancellation of the mission, the company said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as soon as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time. Mission Objectives When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there. The mission will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the company if accomplished. Previous Flight New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and completed experiments. But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent. Landing Attempts For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to recover the first stage. Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment. Space Race The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA opened up proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule. Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government pile pressure on the agency to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation. More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.” “More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”