NASA announced shifted the Endeavour’s landing site from Florida to California. Weather conditions forced flight controllers to pass on Endeavour’s second landing opportunity at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

The next opportunity for STS-126 to land is at 4:25 p.m. EST at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

about three hours later than originally scheduled. Storms and rain at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida made a landing there too risky, reported the agency.

NASA generally prefers to avoid landings in California, because once the shuttle is safely earthbound, it has to be transported back to Florida on the back of a specially-outfitted jumbo jet, at a cost in the millions of dollars.

Endeavour arrived at the station Nov. 16, delivering equipment that will help allow the station to double its crew size to six. In addition, the STS-126 astronauts delivered Expedition 18 Flight Engineer Sandra Magnus, who replaced Greg Chamitoff, now a mission specialist returning to Earth aboard Endeavour.

STS-126 is the 124th shuttle mission and 27th shuttle flight to visit the space station.

The mission included four spacewalks to repair joints that allow the station's solar panels to rotate toward the sun.
The shuttle took with it a slew of home improvements, including an exercise machine, a second toilet, two sleep stations and a water recycling pump to turn urine into drinking water.

The shuttle crew also carried two food warmers and a larger refrigerator. The upgrades to the space station's living space should enable it to house six residents on longer-term assignments - an increase from the current three - after the retirement in 2010 of the US fleet of aging reusable orbiters.

NASA extended Endeavour's mission by one day to deal with a problematic urine recycling system, a device considered key to the planned expansion of the ISS crew. Without the device, the crew is reliant on water shipped with other supplies from Earth.