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Colbert watch: NASA astronaut to unveil space station node name April 14 on The Colbert Report
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Friday night, and time for another update on the Colbert Watch. That's right, boys, and girls, time once again to see how it's goin' down with Stephen Colbert, NASA and the game of "Name That Tune"--errr, "Name That Node."
As everyone in habitable regions of Earth knows by now, the satirist whipped up his posse to stuff the ballot box in NASA's campaign to name the new node on the International Space Station. Menu A: vote for one of NASA's selected names. Menu B: write in the candidate of your choice.
No fortune cookie needed--Colbert's self-promotion sent fans into a voting frenzy, effectively drowning out the suggested names. Then came the clincher--would NASA actually name a vital portion of the space station after a currently-hot comedian?
Stay tuned. Astronaut Sunita "Sunni" Williams is booked into Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" at 111:30 p.m. EDT April 14 (or, the day before tax day, if you're keeping track of where our money goes). Williams served on the ISS on both Expedition 14 and 15.
The node naming poll was organic and took on a life of its own," said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We received more than a million entries, in large part because social media Web sites and television programs, such as 'The Colbert Report,' took an interest. This spread overall awareness of the International Space Station."
The top vote-getter in the list of NASA-suggested names? Serenity. The name appearing on an ISS space station diagram? Serenity.
If you're wondering what all the pieces of the space station are, and how they came together, check out this animated timeline graphic from USA Today. Twitter pal JPLSpace (not part of the official JPL) tweeted that to me--and thanks!
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