🔗 Share this article Jeff Bezos' Space Firm's Second Mission Delayed Because of Inclement Atmospheric Situation The aerospace company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend because of adverse weather factors at the Florida launch site. Launch Delay Reasons Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight. Competition between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been intensifying in recent months. Rescheduled Attempt To relieve traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week. After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for a new try as early as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm EST. Mission Objectives When it eventually launches, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of sending people there. Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the firm if accomplished. Earlier Mission The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments. But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase. Landing Attempts In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the first stage. Thus far, only Musk’s company 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 the space agency opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule. The current administration has seen the government push NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation. More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.” “Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”