Bezos’s Blue Origin postpones second rocket launch over poor weather

Blue Origin, the space company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced on Sunday to postpone the anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket due to unfavorable weather conditions in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Rain and a ground system issue caused delays that were followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving managers with the only option of pushing back the rocket’s planned second mission. Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months.

To relieve airspace congestion during the US federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting commercial rocket liftoffs starting Monday. But after scrubbing the launch Blue Origin said late Sunday that, in coordination with the FAA, it was aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday within the window of 2.50pm to 4.17pm Eastern Standard time.

When it eventually launches, the 322f (98-meter) New Glenn rocket has the task of sending US space agency Nasa’s Escapade twin spacecraft to Mars, in an effort to study the Red Planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.

Blue Origin’s launch is to also serve as a key test of whether it can achieve booster recovery, which would prove a technical breakthrough for the company if successful.

New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January was marked as a success, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed tests. But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, did not stick its landing on a platform in the Atlantic, and instead was lost during descent.

In its second effort Blue Origin will try once more to recover the booster stage. Thus far, only Musk’s company SpaceX has managed that feat.

The competing companies of billionaires Musk and Bezos are locked in a commercial space race that recently escalated, as Nasa opened up bids for its planned moon mission, complaining that SpaceX was lagging behind.

Donald Trump’s second term in the White House has seen the administration pile pressure on Nasa to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with China.

Mason Peck, an aeronautics professor at Cornell University and former Nasa chief technologist, said increased competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin could “expand our options with regard to launch”.

“More launches means more ideas in space,” Peck said. “It can’t be a bad thing to have Blue Origin, even trailing behind.”