Colbert Vies to Be Namesake of NASA Module

(AP) - Astronauts hitched a giant chest of drawers to the International Space Station today containing a new freezer, sleeping compartment, and treadmill named for TV personality Stephen Colbert. The Italian-built chest—nicknamed Leonardo, as in da Vinci—was moved from space shuttle Discovery via a hefty robot arm and hoisted onto the space station. More»

NASA declines to name new nodule after vote-winning Colbert Report host

(NEWSER) - Steven Colbert missed out on getting the new International Space Station node named after him despite winning a non-binding vote, Space.com reports. NASA decided to call the node Tranquility in honor of Apollo 11's touchdown site 40 years ago, and to console the TV host by naming an astronaut treadmill—the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill—after him. More»

NASA will have final say

(NEWSER) - The Colbert Nation did it: NASA’s contest to name a new room at the International Space Station is over, and the winner is “Colbert,” the AP reports. But don’t get too excited yet, Nation: The agency makes the final decision, and only promises to give top vote-getters “the most consideration.” Colbert’s write-in won with 230,539 of the total 1.2 million votes, beating top NASA choice “Serenity” by more than 40,000. More»

Pokes fun at Vancouver weather in taping Report

(NEWSER) - Comedian Stephen Colbert put his faux feud with Canada to rest today, taping his show in a Vancouver park to cheers from hundreds of locals. “This was a welcome that we could not have imagined … I take back everything I ever said about Canada,” said Colbert, who’d dubbed his northern neighbors “ice-holes,” “syrup-suckers” and “Saskatche-whiners” in the run-up to the Olympics—which he’s attending to watch the US speed-skating team he’s sponsoring. More»

Researchers honor comedian on his birthday

(NEWSER) - Scientists who bestowed names of Bush administration officials on a trio of bugs have named a new Venezuelan beetle after Stephen Colbert, the Washington Times reports. "Last year, Stephen shamelessly asked the science community to name something cooler than a spider to honor him," said one of the scientists. "His top choices were a giant ant or a laser lion." More»