NASA Poll To Name Room On Space Station Turns Into A Joke
Recently NASA held a poll to seek input from the public to help them name a new room on the International Space Station known as Node 3. NASA have announced the results of the poll in what can only be described as a joke – literally.
At the completion of the poll, 70% of the vote was in favor of the name ‘Serenity’, named after the ship in Joss Whedon’s Firefly.
In an comical twist, rather than limit the competition to an online poll NASA also opted to allow fans to write-in their vote. In response to this, Comedian Stephen Colbert urged viewers of his Comedy Central ‘Colbert Nation‘ show to write in his name. 230,539 viewers complied, and the result was the name ‘Colbert’ topped the name ‘Serenity’ by more than 40,000 votes at the final count.
If NASA go by the results, the new name for the International Space Station’s Node 3 will be ‘Colbert’. However, perhaps in recognition of the laughable nature of the situation, NASA have reserved the right to choose any name they want. Agency spokesman John Yembrick said NASA will decide in April, and will give the highest voted names “the most consideration”.
Node 3 is a connecting module and cupola that once attached will allow astronauts a full panoramic view unrivalled by any spacecraft in history. They’ll be able to observe and photograph Earth like never before. Irrespective of the sci-fi or Joss Whedon fan connection, ‘Serenity’ seems to be very appropriate to the nature of the module.
Whilst there’ s no doubting ‘Colbert’ is the funniest choice, ‘Serenity’ may yet be the final choice.
Source: Variety
April 9th, 2009 at 8:37 am
I must say that naming a node Colbert is less of a joke than naming the node Serenity. If you look at NASA’s choices, they are all very deep and only work to flaunt NASA’s ego way too high. It seems only poetic justice that the organization with the biggest ego have the node named after the man who proclaims to have biggest ego.