Colbert Wins ISS Naming Contest

By Nancy Atkinson - March 23, 2009 at 2:46 PM UTC | Space Policy
node-3.jpg

[/caption] NASA obviously underestimated the awesome power of the Colbert. In an

online contest

to name a new module for the International Space Station, NASA suggested a few names, but then provided the possibility for write-in suggestions. Comedian Stephen Colbert won in a landslide, beating out NASA's obvious top suggestion, Serenity by over 40,000 votes. But NASA has not said if they will heed the public's wishes. Nearly 1.2 million votes were cast when the voting ended last Friday. Colbert has been in the lead for some time, and a few weeks ago NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier joined Colbert on his Comedy Central show to address the possibility of actually naming the module. "Will you now commit to naming that module Colbert if I win your online vote?" Colbert asked Gerstenmaier.

"Well, we're going to have to go think about that as we get all the votes and we see where we are," Gerstenmaier responded. See the video below:

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cSpace Module: Colbert - William Gerstenmaiercomedycentral.comColbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorMark Sanford

NASA said it reserves the right to choose an appropriate name. Agency spokesman John Yembrick said NASA will decide in April, but will give top vote-getters "the most consideration."

Colbert urged viewers of his Comedy Central show, "The Colbert Report" to write in his name. Colbert received 230,539 votes.

He said "Serenity" is not a name for a space station module, but for an air freshener.

Serenity took 70% of votes for NASA's suggested names, with Legacy, Earthrise and Venture getting just a small percentage of the votes. NASA has said contests like this one are a way to get the public involved with space exploration.

Anyone want to place bets on what the module's name will actually be?

For more information about the Node 3 module,

read our original post about the naming contest.

Source:

MSNBC

,

NASA

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com