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NASA In Colbert Conundrum Over Space Station

Posted by kdawson on from the doing-the-right-thing dept.

After Stephen Colbert won the vote in NASA's contest to name a new module on the International Space Station, NASA found itself in a tough spot. According to Reuters, "Contest rules stipulate that the agency retains the right to basically do whatever it wants," but it may not be all that easy. At first NASA floated the idea of naming the new module's toilet "Colbert." But Last Thursday Congressman Chaka Fattah, D-Pa., urged the agency to respect the people's wishes. And Colbert turned up the heat on yesterday's weekly show: "So NASA, I urge you to heed Congressman Fattah's call for democracy in orbit. Either name that node after me, or I too will reject democracy and seize power as space's evil tyrant overlord. Ball's in your court."

6 of 398 comments (clear)

  1. Re:NASA should be grateful. by Jason+Levine · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So what you're saying is that the 2 most powerful groups on the Internet are Stephen Colbert fans and 4chan users. Let us hope that they never come to virtual blows or it'll be the Internet Apocalypse! (Or at least very entertaining.)

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  2. Grow some balls NASA... by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Flush an effigy of Colbert out the air lock of the ISS and broadcast the event live.

  3. About time.... by david_thornley · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm from Minnesota. We elected Rudy Perpich and Jesse Ventura as governors. We elected Michele Bachmann as representative from the Si(x)th Congressional District. I've watched the hardest-hitting coverage of the last election on the Daily Show. I saw in the paper this morning that the courts have ruled only 400 more ballots will be recounted in the Senate race, making Al Franken's victory almost assured.

    I think it's time we recognized the need for real comedians in our government structure. Now, Colbert is still alive and being funny, so he's not a good candidate for naming a government something after him, so I'm going to propose naming it after George Carlin.

    --
    "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  4. Re:NASA by lenski · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So you're the joker in this thread?

    I voted for Colbert too. I have two reasons: one was curiousity what NASA (and Colbert) would do, and the other is to give an infinitesimal increase the popular relevance to ISS.

    I am 52 and the space program during the '60's was a significant contributor to my education and my career choices.

  5. Re:Humor in Space by Bemopolis · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think Colber[t] actually pronounces his name as ColberT in private. This is based on me catching him one time on air saying ColberT when there was no comic reason for him to do so. ( I hate saying there's no comic reason for something since there is always the possibility that a joke flew by undetected ) It's unlikely that someone who had always pronounced their name one way would slip, though not impossible.

    SC has stated in interviews that the family pronounces it with the hard T. His father wanted to use (revert to?) the French pronounciation, but did not do so in deference to HIS father. So, in honor of his (by then) late father, SC changed from the hard T as he left South Carolina to go to Northwestern.
    </anecdote>

    --
    "I guess the moral of the story is, don't paint your airship with rocket fuel." -- Addison Bain
  6. Re:I got it a long time ago.. by severoon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If you think Colbert does anything out of pure vanity, why don't you give a listen to the interview on the Peabody website that he gave after winning this year...one of the most gracious guys around.

    --
    but have you considered the following argument: shut up.