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You are here: Home / Humorous / Colbert Got Robbed

Colbert Got Robbed

by John Cole|  April 15, 20098:32 am| 25 Comments

This post is in: Humorous, Media, Science & Technology

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NASA comes up with a consolation prize:

Colbert received more than 230,000 votes out of 1 million, but NASA reserved the right to be the final arbiter.

While it wasn’t the leading vote-getter, Tranquility was one of the top 10 suggestions submitted by respondents to the online poll, which ended March 20, NASA said in a statement. It was selected in part because of a connection to the 1969 first manned lunar landing.

“Apollo 11 landed on the moon at the Sea of Tranquility 40 years ago this July,” said William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations. “We selected Tranquility because it ties it to the exploration and the moon, and symbolizes the spirit of international cooperation embodied by the space station.”

As a consolation prize to the comedian, Gerstenmaier said NASA is naming “its new space station treadmill the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or COLBERT.”

I’m sure this has been great publicity for NASA and they love it.

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Reader Interactions

25Comments

  1. 1.

    jon

    April 15, 2009 at 8:41 am

    Colbert is going to be pissed off at this Outrage, but his show will feature lots of footage of that treadmill.

  2. 2.

    Napoleon

    April 15, 2009 at 8:54 am

    What I thought was great was they made the announcement on his show. My local newspaper yesterday in mentioning that the announcement would come on Colbert’s show quoted him from a press release as saying something like "I hope NASA does the right thing in naming the node. Just kidding, actually I hope they name it after me."

  3. 3.

    El Cid

    April 15, 2009 at 8:55 am

    For those who haven’t seen it, Stephen Colbert plays the President in the animated "Monsters Vs Aliens," and it’s even funnier than you’d imagine. It’s actually a really, really funny movie.

  4. 4.

    canuckistani

    April 15, 2009 at 9:23 am

    There was speculation that NASA would name a new personal waste disposal unit after Colbert. A treadmill is just about as funny.

  5. 5.

    Matt

    April 15, 2009 at 9:24 am

    Wait a second, I thought "Serenity" was the leading vote-getter? What was the point of the poll if they were just going to pick what they wanted anyway? Well, they got their publicity, I suppose.

  6. 6.

    Rook

    April 15, 2009 at 9:32 am

    That’s great! No doubt Colbert will take this and run. I can see a whole slew of jokes centered around "Don’t Tread On Me" etc., etc., etc.

  7. 7.

    PaulW

    April 15, 2009 at 9:38 am

    I voted for Serenity.

    Damn Purplebellies stole the election! RIOT!

  8. 8.

    Sasha

    April 15, 2009 at 9:45 am

    You know the only reason Serenity was the second top vote-getter is because there are a bunch of FIREFLY fans out there, right?

  9. 9.

    kid bitzer

    April 15, 2009 at 9:56 am

    that’s a damned nice save on nasa’s part with that treadmill joke.
    very classy, very funny; it’s deflating but not quite insulting, in a way that will let him feign outrage, but doesn’t really hurt.
    well-played all around.

  10. 10.

    Peter J

    April 15, 2009 at 9:59 am

    Poll results:

    Colbert 230,539
    Serenity 190,196
    Myyearbook 147,637
    Gaia 114,427
    Legacy 35,339
    Xenu 29,302
    Earthrise 22,932
    Venture 21,232
    Socialvibe 9,080
    Buddy 6,342
    Ubuntu 4,556
    Tranquility 4,493
    Synergy 1,976
    Vision 1,042

  11. 11.

    amorphous

    April 15, 2009 at 10:02 am

    Now that is some grade-A Republican-quality acronym making-up.

  12. 12.

    joes527

    April 15, 2009 at 10:17 am

    Damn.

    I was really hoping for the suggestion made by another poster here.

    Name it Colbert, but be very clear that it is pronounced kol-burt (stress on second syllable)

  13. 13.

    Cyrus

    April 15, 2009 at 10:27 am

    @Matt:

    What was the point of the poll if they were just going to pick what they wanted anyway? Well, they got their publicity, I suppose.

    Be fair now, we shouldn’t blame them for wanting to go with a serious name. Look at the results Peter J posted. If a different set of fanboys had managed to beat Colbert and get the thing named "Myyearbook" or "Xenu," we wouldn’t be complaining at all about "Tranquility."

  14. 14.

    Evinfuilt

    April 15, 2009 at 10:37 am

    Even though I wanted Colbert to win, I knew that the other node names had a theme, and Serenity not only was geeky but fit the theme… Sad it didn’t win, silly actually. Yes, Tranquility fit the theme, but sheeesh.

  15. 15.

    Joey Maloney

    April 15, 2009 at 10:44 am

    @Peter J:

    You forgot –

    Fart Monkey 7

  16. 16.

    The Moar You Know

    April 15, 2009 at 11:09 am

    THIS IS BULLSHIT WE THE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ROBBED

  17. 17.

    sparky

    April 15, 2009 at 11:13 am

    @The Moar You Know: ACORN!

  18. 18.

    Cris

    April 15, 2009 at 11:30 am

    I’m not even a big Firefly geek, and I think Serenity totally deserved to win. It’s not even that different from Tranquility — the Sea of Serenity is the Sea of Tranquility’s next-door neighbor!

  19. 19.

    tavella

    April 15, 2009 at 12:12 pm

    @Matt: Wait a second, I thought "Serenity" was the leading vote-getter? What was the point of the poll if they were just going to pick what they wanted anyway? Well, they got their publicity, I suppose.

    Yeah, that sort of weirded me out. Ignoring write-ins is reasonable, but having a contest and then ignoring your _own official suggestions_ to pick something that came in 12th is strange.

  20. 20.

    ThresherK

    April 15, 2009 at 12:14 pm

    @canuckistani

    I hear that fight’s between Colbert and Richard Benjamin.

  21. 21.

    The Cat Who Would Be Tunch

    April 15, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    NASA’s decision to hold a vote on naming the ISS node and subsequent tyrannical action of ignoring the will of the people by choosing its own name is proof of the incoming Obama Liberal Fascism. He has conquered the Final Frontier. Tea baggers, we must unite and make our last stand on Terra!

  22. 22.

    Polish the Guillotines

    April 15, 2009 at 2:14 pm

    @ThresherK: Holy moley. Uber-obscure Quark reference for the win.

  23. 23.

    Tom Hilton

    April 15, 2009 at 3:18 pm

    Fuck Colbert; Serenity was robbed.

  24. 24.

    MNPundit

    April 15, 2009 at 4:11 pm

    Fuck Serenity, Christ that was a boring show and movie.

    Anyhow, what NASA should have done for maximum publicity was say they would name the module "Colbert" but only IF they could pronounce it with the hard "T" sound.

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

  25. 25.

    clay

    April 15, 2009 at 5:43 pm

    I’m sure this has been great publicity for NASA and they love it.

    Colbert loves it too, because at heart, he is a true geek. He once interviewed an astronaut who was in orbit at the time. Colbert was as giddy as a little boy on Christmas, and you could tell it was genuine.

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