COLBERT on the ISS

Universe today ^ | April 14,2009 | Nancy Atkinson

[jmcenanly]

There will be a COLBERT on the International Space Station. Word has it that NASA, however, did not name Node 3 on the ISS after comedian Stephen Colbert, who won a NASA-sponsored naming contest for the next module that will be brought to the station. According to Robert Pearlman on CollectSPACE, NASA will announce on Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report” later tonight (Tuesday) that the module’s name will be “Tranquility” – in deference to Apollo 11’s landing site on the Moon (40th anniversary and all this year). But NASA did name a new treadmill after Colbert, kinda sorta. NASA created an acronym for the treadmill as the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or COLBERT. Of course, this isn’t actually official yet. Pearlman’s article was published two hours before the “Colbert Report” aired (even though NASA’s press release specifically stated the name would “not be publicly released until the program airs.” Hmmm… guess nothing is sacred. We’ll post the video and official word when available. You can see an image of the current treadmill on the ISS below.

[jmcenanly]

COLBERT getting a workout on ISS

[NCjim]

"This is better than the node. The node is just the box that contains the treadmill."

Gotta love Stephen Colbert!