Blue Origin, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend because of unfavorable weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Reasons
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease traffic in the skies amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.
Following the cancellation of the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was aiming for a new try as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of human exploration.
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 successful.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was marked as a success, as its payload reached space and successfully performed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as reusable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the first stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of billionaires Bezos and Musk are locked in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government push the agency to speed up its timeline to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface in competition against China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
