Blue Origin's Second Mission Postponed Because of Inclement Atmospheric Situation

Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to unfavorable meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Causes

Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing mission controllers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.

Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in recent months.

Rescheduled Attempt

To ease traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting private space launches starting Monday.

Following the cancellation of the mission, the company said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as early as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.

Mission Objectives

When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of human exploration.

The mission will also act as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a major advancement for the company if successful.

Previous Flight

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its payload reached space and completed tests.

But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent.

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the booster stage.

Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat.

Space Race

Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has involved the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.

More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”

“More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”