Jeff Bezos' Space Firm's Latest Mission Delayed Because of Inclement Atmospheric Situation

Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to delay the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of adverse weather conditions at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Precipitation and a ground system issue caused early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.

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

Rescheduled Attempt

To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting private space launches starting the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting a new try as soon as Wednesday within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study 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 booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished.

Previous Flight

The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed tests.

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

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to recover the first stage.

Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.

Space Race

Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.

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

Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”

“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.”