Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the eagerly awaited launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable weather factors at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Causes
Rainfall and a ground system issue led to initial delays, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window ended, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Musk's space company has been heating up in recent months.
New Launch Window
To ease traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
Following the cancellation of the mission, Blue Origin said on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, in an effort to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a key test of its ability to perform reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the company if successful.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a success, as its payload reached space and successfully performed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the first stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Space Race
The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency opened up bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company was lagging behind.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government push the agency to accelerate its timeline to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with China.
Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”
