NASA Names Treadmill After Colbert

NASA declines to name new nodule after vote-winning Colbert Report host
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 15, 2009 1:36 AM CDT
NASA Names Treadmill After Colbert
The International Space Station's "Treadmill-2" has been renamed "COLBERT" and NASA plans to invite the funnyman to Florida to give it a try.   (NASA)

Steven Colbert missed out on getting the new International Space Station node named after him despite winning a non-binding vote, Space.com reports. NASA decided to call the node Tranquility in honor of Apollo 11's touchdown site 40 years ago, and to console the TV host by naming an astronaut treadmill—the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill—after him.

"I think a treadmill is better than a node, you know why? Because the node is just a box for the treadmill," Colbert quipped. "Nobody says 'Hey, my mom bought me a Nike box.' They want the shoes that are inside." (More Stephen Colbert stories.)

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