Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on the weekend due to unfavorable weather 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, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been intensifying in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve traffic in the skies during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
Following the cancellation of the mission, the company said late Sunday that, working alongside the FAA, it was targeting another attempt as soon as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a success, as its payload reached space and completed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as reusable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission Blue Origin will make another attempt to land the booster stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Space Race
The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has seen the government push NASA to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.
Increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” an ex-agency official stated. “It isn't a negative to have the competitor, even not in the lead.”
