Weather woes delay space shuttle Endeavour's transfer

Bad weather is delaying the transfer of the shuttle Endeavour from Florida to California where it will be put on show, the US space agency said.

Endeavour, which completed its final mission last year, was scheduled to leave the Kennedy Space Center on the back of a modified Boeing 747 on Monday but inclement conditions along the flight path pushed the departure to Tuesday, NASA said in a statement, relesased on Sunday.

When it does make the trip, the shuttle—which flew more than 185 million kilometers (115 million miles) in its two-decade career—will make several stops and flyovers before arriving at Los Angeles' LAX airport on Thursday.

After spending a few weeks at a United Airlines hangar there, the shuttle will be transferred to the California Space Center where it will go on display on October 30.

After the space agency NASA brought an end to the 30-year shuttle program last year, major US cities battled for the right to house one of the spacecraft.

Endeavour's trip to Los Angeles is a homecoming of sorts. It was built in Palmdale, north of Los Angeles, as a replacement for the space shuttle Challenger.

(c) 2012 AFP