The aerospace company, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its New Glenn rocket on the weekend due to unfavorable meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Reasons
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, then came cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window ended, leaving mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Competition between Blue Origin and Musk's space company has been intensifying in the past few months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease traffic in the skies amid the government funding gap, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting the beginning of the week.
Following the cancellation of the launch, Blue Origin said late Sunday that, working alongside the regulatory body, it was aiming for another attempt as early as midweek within a window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, to examine the Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of sending people there.
Blue Origin’s launch will also act as a key test of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if successful.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was considered a success, as its cargo reached space and completed tests.
But its main rocket section, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its landing on a ocean-based target in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort Blue Origin will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Space Race
The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as NASA began accepting proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.
The current administration has seen the government push NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.
Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions 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.”
