Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable weather conditions at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been intensifying in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To ease airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
After scrubbing the mission, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as early as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal 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 major advancement for the company if successful.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in January was considered a success, as its payload reached space and completed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.
Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was lagging behind.
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 SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
