Shuttle forced to land in sunny California

Forced to avoid rainy Florida, space shuttle Endeavour and its seven-man crew landed in California today after installing a billion-dollar robot arm on the international space station.

Endeavour touched down at 1710 BST.

‘‘Welcome back after a tremendously successful mission taking the arm to space,’’ Mission Control said as soon as the shuttle rolled to a stop at Edwards Air Force Base.

‘‘It’s great to be back,’’ commander Kent Rominger replied.

Mission Control waved Endeavour off two chances to return to Cape Canaveral, Florida, because of rain, wind and clouds, and decided to take advantage of clear skies and light wind at the backup landing strip at Edwards in southern California. The weather in Florida was not expected to improve throughout the week.

It was a disappointment for Rominger and his crew; their families were waiting for them at Cape Canaveral.

This was the second time in three months that a space shuttle has been diverted to Edwards because of bad weather in Florida. Atlantis ended up there in February, also following a space station construction mission.

Nasa prefers to land in Florida to save time and money. It costs as much as £700,000 to send the shuttle on a cross-country trip on top of jumbo jet when it lands in California.