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NASA It's funny.  Laugh. Space

ISS's Node 3 Might Be Named "Colbert" 276

Panzor writes "NASA is running a contest to name the new addition to the space station, Node 3. The polls are open until March 20. The selection that is getting the most votes is 'Suggest your own,' and the leading name besides the official four (Earthrise, Legacy, Serenity, and Venture) is 'Colbert.' Comedian Stephen Colbert suggested on the air that fans write in his name. On March 5th, his vote count passed that of Xenu and Colbert pronounced himself Scientology's 'Galactic Overlord.'"
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ISS's Node 3 Might Be Named "Colbert"

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  • by jollyreaper ( 513215 ) on Friday March 06, 2009 @11:37AM (#27092545)

    Technically, being in space and all, it should be named Alpha Squad 7.

  • by orthancstone ( 665890 ) on Friday March 06, 2009 @11:38AM (#27092559)
    He asked for it Tuesday night, the next day it was so.

    Colbert cannot be stopped...EVER!
  • Where is the count? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Jethro ( 14165 ) on Friday March 06, 2009 @11:39AM (#27092575) Homepage

    I don't know where people are getting the number of votes from. I see "Colbert" is leading the User Suggestions, but I don't see a vote count anywhere. I see "Serenity" has 85% of the regular votes, but it doesn't say anywhere whether it has more or less votes than Colbert does.

    I have no doubt that Colbert can and will (or has!) overtaken everything else, but where are people seeing actual results here?

    • by athakur999 ( 44340 ) on Friday March 06, 2009 @12:04PM (#27092933) Journal

      Serenity sounds like a module where lady astronauts would go to take care of various lady business. They need to give these things more masculine names like "Power Eagle Hammer 8000 Type R AMG".

    • Given the number of overall suggestions was around 170000 when I last looked at it this isn't such a popular poll in any case. Maybe 500 people voted for Colbert (I did) and that pushed it above the 400 "Anonymous" guys that wanted to call it "Xenu". No one knows.
      • by kaiidth ( 104315 ) on Friday March 06, 2009 @12:24PM (#27093219)

        You're slightly wrong - in fact some rough numbers are available (for those who read space.com, anyway):

        http://www.space.com/entertainment/090305-colbert-space-station.html [space.com]

        This marks only the second time that NASA has sought public input for naming a piece of U.S. space station hardware. The Harmony module was named by 2,200 students who entered NASA's naming contest for Node 2. By contrast, 169,000 people have voted online at NASA's naming contest site so far.

        The NASA-chosen name Serenity, which shares the name of a spaceship in the cult favorite television series "Firefly", continues to maintain a huge lead with more than 66,000 votes, according to NASA. But a surge of votes has given Colbert 29,000 in just two days, enough for second overall. The trailing vote-getters include Xenu (9,200), Earthrise (4,200), Legacy (3,500) and Venture (3,200).

    • Probably because its first in the list. Regardless, its a shame slashdot didnt get in on this. I'd love to see part of the ISS named Bender. Perhaps the Russians can store their vodka there.

      Maybe its not too late. I just voted for Bender.

    • by cashman73 ( 855518 ) on Friday March 06, 2009 @01:44PM (#27094529) Journal
      According to this report [livescience.com], published yesterday, Serenity was in the lead with more than 66,000 votes, with Colbert in second overall with 29,000 votes. The trailing vote-getters include Xenu (9,200), Earthrise (4,200), Legacy (3,500) and Venture (3,200). Of course, these numbers are from yesterday when only 169,000 people voted. There's now 249,449 votes, so Colbert could very well be in the lead,... =)

      On a more personal note, I could be happy with either Colbert or Serenity -- while I am a huge fan of Stephen Colbert, I am also a huge fan of Firefly,... The Serenity name would go along a bit better with the whole theme of the space station, though. I'd bet money that what happens is Colbert wins, but they decide to stick with the theme and dignity and name it the second place name of Serenity . To recognize Colbert's contribution, they'll name the toilet on board the module after Stephen,... ;-)

    • The selection that is getting the most votes is 'Suggest your own,'

      You're right, the linked page doesn't report any such tally. I conclude that this story is either a first-hand report from the guys running the poll, or rubbish.

  • by JoshuaZ ( 1134087 ) on Friday March 06, 2009 @11:39AM (#27092581) Homepage
    But I bet he won't be so smug when the reavers come and there's no one to save him.
  • by pak9rabid ( 1011935 ) on Friday March 06, 2009 @11:42AM (#27092639)
    Principal Skinner: All students please proceed immediately to an assembly in the Butthead Memorial Auditorium.
    Principal Skinner (to himself): Dammit, I wish we hadn't let the students name that one.
  • Roy Focker (Score:2, Funny)

    by chord.wav ( 599850 )

    Roy Focker: Let's honor our heroes the way they deserve

  • I voted and then it showed a graph with Serenity having 86% of the votes. A screen shot is posted here. [blogspot.com]

    I grant it appears to be a miss leading GUI design on the pole system.

  • by node 3 ( 115640 ) on Friday March 06, 2009 @12:00PM (#27092889)

    These Colbert naming games are funny, until they happen to you.

    Now I have to redo all my stationery...

    • My name IS Colbert, you insensitive clod! Really!

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by darthwader ( 130012 )

      Colbert's naming games are nothing.

      A while back we (Canada) had a right-wing politician (Stockwell Day) trying to pass a law that would force a binding referendum if a particular number of citizens signed a petition for it. I think he wanted to stamp out gay marriage, or immigration, or some other thing that "white skin and red neck guys don't like". (Sorry I don't recall the details.)

      Before the "force a referendum with a petition" law passed, Rick Mercer (Canadian comedian who hosts a fake news show) st

  • by taxman_10m ( 41083 ) on Friday March 06, 2009 @12:03PM (#27092931)

    Would love to see Rain beat out Colbert.

  • Not likely... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by penguinstorm ( 575341 ) on Friday March 06, 2009 @12:04PM (#27092945) Homepage

    No it won't. One of the rules of naming such semi-permanent structures is that they're not often named after living people. Colbert is amusing now (though I find him annoying, to be truthful) but what happens if in 5 years he runs over a group of children in a drunk driving incident? Do you really want a NASA module named after that? Is that going to be funny?

    There are exceptions, but they're fairly rare and usually involve someone who either: a) invented the thing (Colt revolvers or Ferris Wheels), or; b) donated a tonne of money (anybody remember Enron stadium, or the Ken Lay Chair in Economics at Methodist University?)

    Xenu is too religious, and a government agency wouldn't name anything after Scientology.

    That's why NASA's suggestions are more benign, and why one of them will likely be chosen.

    Besides, the subtlety of the shout-out to the Big Damn Heroes is awesome and not overt enough to eliminate the name.

    • Besides, the subtlety of the shout-out to the Big Damn Heroes is awesome and not overt enough to eliminate the name.

      I get Serenity, of course, and Legacy appears to be a reference to the flight that took Doohan's remains into orbit, but what are the other two?

      Is Venture a reference to the Sci-Fi mag of the same name?

      Earthrise? No clue on that one.

    • by fizzup ( 788545 )

      Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

    • by Myopic ( 18616 )

      cf. The Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

      We're embarrassed about that one now.

    • Re:Not likely... (Score:4, Informative)

      by frank249 ( 100528 ) on Friday March 06, 2009 @01:59PM (#27094807)
      No it won't. One of the rules of naming such semi-permanent structures is that they're not often named after living people.

      So who is to say that the name Colbert refers to a living person? There is a Colbert County [colbertcounty.org] in Alabama and of course the famous Jean-Baptiste Colbert [wikipedia.org] who served as the French minister of finance from 1665 to 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. There are also: Charles Colbert, marquis de Croissy (1625-1696), French diplomatist, brother of Jean-Baptiste Colbert; Claudette Colbert (1903-1996), American actress; Conn Colbert (1896-1916), Irish rebel; Edouard Colbert (1774-1853), Napoleonic French Baron and leader of the Red Lancers; Edwin Harris Colbert (1905-2001), American vertebrate paleontologist; Holmes Colbert, developer of the Chickasaw Nation's constitution in the 1850s and Jacques-Nicolas Colbert (1655-1707), French churchman, son of Jean-Baptiste Colbert. No way did I voted 30 - 40 times for Stephen Colbert.

    • by shma ( 863063 )

      Colbert is amusing now (though I find him annoying, to be truthful) but what happens if in 5 years he runs over a group of children in a drunk driving incident?

      My god, you're right! We should throw him in prison now on manslaughter charges, just to be safe.

      Or, you know, we could maybe think for a second and realize that honouring someone doesn't mean that we automatically approve of every future action taken by that person.

  • by wiredog ( 43288 ) on Friday March 06, 2009 @12:05PM (#27092951) Journal

    We know where the next "launch failure" is going. Michigan.

    It should be noted that Buddy [herald.com] is number 3. And a much cooler name than "Colbert". Or "Xenu" And much better than "Serenity".

  • Anybody remember People Magazine's contest for online voting for 'most beautiful person'? Howard Stern urged his listeners to vote for Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_the_Angry_Drunken_Dwarf [wikipedia.org]

    In 1998, People magazine ran an online poll to determine the most beautiful people in the world, where somebody facetiously entered Nasiff as a write-in candidate. Nasiff won the contest, receiving hundreds of thousands of votes. At the time the online poll was launched, People led voters to believe that it would influence the print magazine's annual listing of "the most beautiful people." People refused to allow online votes to influence the magazine results. The poll was configured so that users could vote multiple times, by deleting a cookie given from the site. Many contestants had scripts written that would allow users to vote repeatedly.

  • I for one welcome our new Galactic Overlord.

  • Now that I know that there a bunch of "liberals" pushing Colbert... I'm going to set out and build a script for my right buddies to get it named after one of America's greatest Presidents....

    In fact, we should even introduce legislation to rename the WHOLE space stations...

    The Richard Nixon Space Station.

    Man, that WOULD be the most expensive troll in the history of the world.

    • My kingdom for mod points!
    • How could you not vote for our greatest Robotic-bodied president? Now where's Agnew's headless body? Ow-oooo!

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by LihTox ( 754597 )

      Nixon was too liberal for the current GOP, although they appreciate his theories on executive power.

  • by st0rmshad0w ( 412661 ) on Friday March 06, 2009 @12:20PM (#27093179)

    I &%@!$%! hate Pod 6!

  • Just voted for "Stewart".
  • I'm a big fan of Colbert, but some of the other write-in suggestions are even better:

    * Buddy
    * Synergy
    * Vista (!)
    * Social Vibe

    I, for one, am writing in "Slashdot".

  • by mprindle ( 198799 ) on Friday March 06, 2009 @01:19PM (#27094067)

    When I first glanced at the name, I saw Dilbert. Not sure if it's fitting, but the living spaces up there must be the side of cubicles or smaller. :)

  • First he vandalizes Wikipedia, then he pisses off the Browncoats...

    If Colbert doesn't clean up his act, the internets will be taking revenge soon! :P

  • If anyone needs me I'll be in the Angry Dome!

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