Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of unfavorable meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Reasons
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to initial delays, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.
New Launch Window
To relieve airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches starting Monday.
After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting a new try as soon as Wednesday within a window of afternoon hours EST.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry the US space agency's two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the Martian atmospheric past with the eventual hope of sending people there.
The mission will also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished.
Previous Flight
The rocket's first launch in January was marked as a success, as its payload achieved orbit and completed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the booster stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has achieved that accomplishment.
Space Race
The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a private sector space competition that recently escalated, as the space agency began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.
The current administration has involved the administration pile pressure on the agency to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface amid a race with China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in space,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
