WASHINGTON — Bad weather prevented NASA from launching a suborbital prototype of its planned Ares 1 crew launch vehicle during a four-hour window Oct. 27.

NASA officials said there is a 60 percent chance of acceptable weather Oct. 28 during a four-hour window that also runs from 8 a.m. to noon EDT. IfAres 1-X does not lift off then, NASA will have another four-hour opportunity the following day.

After that, NASA may have to stand down until sometime in November to launch the 100-meter-tall prototype due to other launch traffic at Cape Canaveral,Fla., including the Space Shuttle Atlantis’ planned Nov. 16 launch to the international space station.

Brian Berger is editor in chief of SpaceNews.com and the SpaceNews magazine. He joined SpaceNews.com in 1998, spending his first decade with the publication covering NASA. His reporting on the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident was...