Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to adverse weather factors at Cape Canaveral.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers 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 traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to examine the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.
The mission will also act as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the firm if successful.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in January was considered a achievement, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the first stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk 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 lagging behind.
The current administration has involved the government pile pressure on the agency to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
