Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of unfavorable weather conditions at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Causes
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing managers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been heating up in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To ease traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches from Monday.
Following the cancellation of the launch, the company announced late Sunday that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as early as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to the Red Planet, to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of human exploration.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a success, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed tests.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during the return phase.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Space Race
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that one company was lagging behind.
The current administration has seen the government pile pressure on NASA to speed up its progress to send a crewed mission to the lunar surface amid a race with China.
Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a bad thing to have the competitor, even trailing behind.”
