NASA in Colbert conundrum over Space Station

spike

spike

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA's outreach to the public to drum up interest in the International Space Station started innocently enough with an online contest to name the station's new living quarters.

But Stephen Colbert, a comedian who poses as an ultra right-wing news commentator on cable television's Comedy Central, nosed into the act with a grass-roots appeal that has backed the staid U.S. space agency into a corner.

The comedian's supporters cast 230,539 write-in votes to name the new module at the $100-billion space outpost "Colbert." The top NASA-suggested name, "Serenity," finished a distant second, more than 40,000 votes behind.

Contest rules stipulate that the agency retains the right to basically do whatever it wants, but it may not be that easy.

Last week, U.S. Representative Chaka Fattah, a Pennsylvania Democrat, called on NASA to do the democratic thing and use the name that drew the most votes.

"NASA decided to hold an election to name its new room at the International Space Station and the clear winner is Stephen Colbert," Fattah said in a statement. "The people have spoken, and Stephen Colbert won it fair and square -- even if his campaign was a bit over the top."

NASA is taking some time to ponder its next move.

"We have a plan and we're working with some folks and in a couple of weeks you'll know what the answer is," NASA's associate administrator Bill Gerstenmaier said.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE52T5TN20090330?rpc=64
 
Staying in the Colbert Room....has a nice ring to it.

*Can we move this to the Sciences Forum?
 
imagine. people thinking they have the right to tell government what to do by the sheer number of their voices. how cute.

never happen. that went nanaheyhey good bye. now government tells business how to operate instead of the citizens having a say as to what the government does

strangely enough, that came about...by the choice of the people

the stupid ones at least

i really am outnumbered. i am surrounded by gimmegimme dummies

hate that

oh, to the topic of the "thread". colbert's a buffoon. glad the sheep gave him some free pub. otherwise the adults might have forgotten he existed

umm, he is still on the tv right?
 
This made room for suggestions such as Tranquility, Synergy, Vision and even Xenu....


Now comes the real question: Will NASA listen to the voters? The rules of the contest state that “NASA will take into consideration the results of the voting. However, the results are not binding on NASA and NASA reserves the right to ultimately select a name in accordance with the best interests of the agency ... Such name may not necessarily be one which is on the list of voted-on candidate names."
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Nope. It should properly be named Roddenberry. What better name while trekking through space?
 
somehow i find that hard to believe. i just can't help imagining something more like...

cletus.jpg
 
In my opinion, they could do worse. After all, the whole point of this effort was to get more street level recognition for the ISS. They need that if they expect congress to fund them. If Colbert is willing to spent his airtime to pump their product, then by all means ... take it and run.

Frankly, I think we've all been waiting for the corporate sponsorship of the space program to gear up. Not before time. After all, who big is a Nascar car and look at the sponsorships on it. Compare that to the Ext. tank on the shuttle. Why is a billboard that size being wasted?
 
Tranquility wasn't the second most popular vote behind Colbert, or even the fourth. The chosen name was in fact a distant eighth in the list of public write-ins, begging the questions: what was the point of the poll anyway?
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Gotta agree there.
 
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