Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to adverse meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Causes
Rainfall and a ground system issue led to initial delays, followed by cumulus cloud cover as the narrow time frame for launch closed, leaving managers to push back the rocket’s planned second mission.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To relieve traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting private space launches from Monday.
After scrubbing the launch, the company said late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as early as midweek within a time slot of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
Launch Goals
Upon successful liftoff, the 322-foot New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to the Red Planet, in an effort to examine the planet’s climate history 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 major advancement for the firm if successful.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a achievement, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be recoverable, failed to make its landing on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort the launch provider will try once more to recover the booster stage.
Until now, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
Rival firms of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
Donald Trump’s second term has involved the government pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.
More rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “give us more choices with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
