COLBERT

Today's shout out goes to Stephen Colbert. This requires a little bit of backstory. In early March, NASA announced that they would let the public name their new space node (basically a new room for the international space station). They set up the voting so people could pick one of 4 suggested names like Serenity or Tranquility, or suggest their own. When Colbert found out about the contest, he went on his show and asked all his followers to vote "Colbert" for the name of the node.

For those who don't know, the Colbert Nation is a force to be reckoned with. Within hours, it was the number 1 other suggestion. When voting ended on March 20th, Colbert led all names with over 230,000 votes. Second place was one of NASA's names with 190,000. A whoopin to say the least. But NASA still reserved the right to name it whatever they wanted.

The wait began. Congressman and celebrities gave their opinions. The final decision was announced on Tuesday night on The Colbert Report. NASA has decided to name the node "Tranquility." It was also announced that the new space-treadmill going up to be in the node will be called the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or the COLBERT. This is the patch for the COLBERT. As far as I know, this is official, NASA certified, not a joke.



The Shout Out goes to Colbert for his not being mad and embracing the naming of the treadmill. It was clearly a consolation prize by NASA, but you couldn't tell from Colbert's reaction. As part of the Nation, I'm proud of what we did, but Stephen deserves credit for putting on a good face and happily accepting the treadmill.