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NASA Names Space Station Treadmill After Colbert
willith writes "The SF Chronicle reports on the results of the International Space Station Node 3 naming contest (which we previously discussed). Comedian and fake-pundit Stephen Colbert conducted a bombastic write-in campaign and repeatedly urged his show's fan base (the 'Colbert Nation') to stuff the ballot box with his name, which resulted in 'Colbert' coming in first in the write-in contest with almost a quarter-million votes. Although the Node 3 component will not be named 'Colbert' — NASA has instead chosen to call it 'Tranquility' — one of the Node 3 components will bear the honor: the second ISS treadmill, which will be installed in Node 3, will be named the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill. The formal announcement was made on the air yesterday at 22:30 EDT on the Colbert Report by astronaut Sunita Williams."
This really pissed me off. The whole Colbert thing was a joke from the beginning, as I'm sure even Colbert would admit, but the winner of the contest among names CHOSEN BY NASA was "Serenity".
With the exception of naming the treadmill after Colbert- they COMPLETELY IGNORED their own poll. Way to go NASA- great way to generate public support. I'm sure people will really be eager to take part in your next naming poll, knowing that you will just ignore the results anyway.