Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced to delay the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday due to unfavorable meteorological factors at the Florida launch site.
Mission Postponement Reasons
Precipitation and a technical problem on the ground caused initial delays, then came thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch ended, forcing 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 ease traffic in the skies during the US federal government shutdown, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
Following the cancellation of the mission, the company said late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting a new try as soon as Wednesday within a time slot of afternoon hours EST.
Launch Goals
When it eventually launches, the 322-foot tall launch vehicle will carry NASA’s two Mars-bound probes to Mars, to study the planet’s climate history with the long-term goal of sending people there.
The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of its ability to perform booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if accomplished.
Earlier Mission
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in the start of the year was marked as a achievement, as its cargo achieved orbit and completed experiments.
But its main rocket section, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the ocean, and instead was lost during the return phase.
Landing Attempts
In its second effort the launch provider will make another attempt to recover the booster stage.
Thus far, only SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Space Race
The competing companies of tycoons Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that has grown more intense lately, as NASA opened up bids for its lunar exploration program, complaining that SpaceX was falling behind schedule.
The current administration has involved the government pile pressure on the agency to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with China.
More rivalry between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“Additional missions means more ideas in orbit,” a former NASA chief technologist said. “It can’t be a negative to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
