Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the eagerly awaited liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to unfavorable weather conditions at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Causes
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been heating up in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease airspace congestion amid the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is restricting private space launches from the beginning of the week.
After scrubbing the launch, the company said on Sunday evening that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as early as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport the US space agency's Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch 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
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its payload reached space and completed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its landing on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA began accepting proposals for its planned moon mission, complaining that one company 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 “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means more ideas in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
