Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday because of unfavorable weather factors at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Causes
Rainfall and a ground system issue caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing mission controllers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX 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 limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
Following the cancellation of the launch, the company announced on Sunday evening that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting a new try as early as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, 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 its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if successful.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in the start of the year was considered a success, as its cargo reached space and completed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to recover the booster stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the administration pile pressure on NASA to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon in competition against the Asian nation.
Increased competition between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in space,” a former NASA chief technologist stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
