Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to adverse weather factors at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Reasons
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs from Monday.
Following the cancellation of the mission, the company announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as early as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.
The mission will also act as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
The rocket's first launch in January was considered a success, as its payload reached space and completed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed 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 managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting bids for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.
The current administration has involved the administration pile pressure on the agency to speed up its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with the Asian nation.
More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“More launches means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
