( CNN ) -- The space shuttle Discovery landed in California on Friday evening after bad weather near Kennedy Space Center forced it to wave off a landing in Florida . Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base after a 13-day mission to the international space station . `` Welcome home Discovery , '' mission control said after the shuttle landed . `` Congratulations on an extremely successful mission , stepping up science to a new level on the international space station . '' The shuttle touched down at 8:53 p.m . ET at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert , where NASA described the weather as `` pristine . '' This may be the last California shuttle landing , because there are only six missions remaining on the NASA schedule , unless Congress gives the space agency more money . Flight controllers prefer landings at Kennedy Space Center because of cost and schedule . A California landing adds a week to the turnaround time before the shuttle can be ready for another mission . NASA has estimated it costs about $ 1.7 million to bring a shuttle home to Kennedy Space Center from California . It rides cross-country piggy-back on a Boeing 747 . Discovery was initially scheduled to return to Earth on Thursday , but poor weather in central Florida forced a delay . Watch the shuttle land in California » . Both Florida landing opportunities Friday were canceled by `` a very deep moisture system that descended over the Florida spaceport , '' a NASA spokesman said . The seven astronauts are wrapping up a 13-day mission to the international space station , where the crew made repairs and delivered supplies . The crew executed three spacewalks and dropped off the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill , or COLBERT treadmill , named after comedian Stephen Colbert . Colbert won an online poll conducted by NASA to name the newest space station compartment . Instead , Colbert and the space agency worked together to give the moniker to the treadmill . The new compartment was given the name Tranquility . While in space , mission specialists Danny Olivas and Christer Fuglesang installed an ammonia tank on the international space station . The depleted tank assembly is being returned to Earth in the shuttle 's cargo bay . The tank is part of a cooling system that cycles 600 pounds of ammonia through the space station to `` get rid of excess heat generated by the station 's systems , '' NASA said . Astronaut Nicole Stott remained at the space station as a flight engineer , replacing astronaut Timothy Kopra , who returned home aboard Discovery as a mission specialist , according to NASA 's Web site . Another space icon is also coming home aboard the shuttle -- Buzz Lightyear . The 12-inch Disney/Pixar action figure has been aboard the space station for more than a year , according to NASA . The action figure went into space aboard Discovery in May 2008 as part of a joint initiative between Disney and NASA to encourage students to study math , science and technology . Weather and technical problems delayed Discovery 's launch three times before the mission began .
NEW : Mission director says crew ' ` ` science to a new place '' on space station . NEW : Shuttle lands in California , with additional cost to bring it home . Shuttle landing for space station called off because of bad weather .