Jeff Bezos' Space Firm's Second Mission Postponed Due to Poor Atmospheric Situation

The aerospace company, owned by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to adverse weather factors at the Florida launch site.

Mission Postponement Reasons

Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground caused early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.

Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been intensifying in recent months.

New Launch Window

To relieve traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs from the beginning of the week.

After scrubbing the mission, the company announced late Sunday that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting a new try as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

Mission Objectives

Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope 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 achievement, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed experiments.

But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.

Recovery Efforts

For this new mission Blue Origin will try once more to land the booster stage.

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

Space Race

Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.

The current administration has seen the government push 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 “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”

“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”