The aerospace company, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, had to delay the highly anticipated launch of its powerful launch vehicle on Sunday because of adverse meteorological conditions at Cape Canaveral.
Launch Delay Causes
Rainfall and a technical problem on the ground led to early setbacks, followed by thick clouds as the narrow time frame for launch closed, forcing managers to push back the vehicle's upcoming flight.
Rivalry between Bezos' firm and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months.
Rescheduled Attempt
To ease airspace congestion during the government funding gap, the aviation regulator is restricting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday.
After scrubbing the launch, Blue Origin announced on Sunday evening that, in coordination with the FAA, it was targeting a new try as soon as Wednesday within a window of afternoon hours Eastern Standard time.
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 Martian atmospheric past with the long-term goal of sending people there.
The mission will also serve as a crucial trial of whether it can achieve reusable rocket landing, which would represent a major advancement for the firm if accomplished.
Previous Flight
New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a success, as its cargo reached space and completed experiments.
But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be recoverable, did not stick its touchdown on a ocean-based target in the ocean, and ended up destroyed during descent.
Landing Attempts
For this new mission the launch provider will make another attempt to land the booster stage.
Until now, only Musk’s company SpaceX has achieved that feat.
Space Race
The competing companies of billionaires Bezos and Musk are engaged in a private sector space competition that has grown more intense lately, as the space agency opened up proposals for its lunar exploration program, noting that SpaceX was lagging behind.
The current administration has involved the administration push the agency to speed up its progress to launch astronauts to the Moon amid a race with the Asian nation.
Increased competition between the two firms could “expand our options with regard to liftoff.”
“More launches means greater innovation in space,” an ex-agency official stated. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even not in the lead.”
