The aerospace company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had to postpone the highly anticipated liftoff of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday due to adverse weather conditions at the Florida launch site.
Launch Delay Reasons
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, then came thick clouds as the 88-minute launch window closed, forcing mission controllers to reschedule the vehicle's upcoming flight.
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 during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is limiting private space launches from Monday.
After scrubbing the mission, the company announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the regulatory body, it was targeting a new try as soon as Wednesday within a window of afternoon hours EST.
Mission Objectives
When it eventually launches, the 98-meter New Glenn rocket will transport NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to examine the planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.
Blue Origin’s launch will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would represent a major advancement for the company if accomplished.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was considered a success, as its cargo reached space and successfully performed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was designed as recoverable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and instead was lost during descent.
Recovery Efforts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has managed that accomplishment.
Industry Competition
The competing companies of tycoons Bezos and Musk are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as the space agency opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that one company was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has involved the administration push NASA to accelerate its timeline to launch astronauts to the lunar surface in competition against the Asian nation.
More rivalry between the two firms could “give us more choices with regard to launch.”
“Additional missions means greater innovation in orbit,” an ex-agency official said. “It isn't a negative to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
