Stephen Colbert did not get his name emblazoned on a new node for the International Space Station (ISS)—but he did get an ISS treadmill named in his honor.

Astronaut and ISS veteran Sunita Williams appeared last night on the Colbert Report to unveil the name selected by NASA for the forthcoming ISS Node 3, a module that will house life-support equipment, a viewing cupola and a control station for a robotic arm. NASA decided not to go with "Colbert," the winner of an online poll the space agency conducted to help select a name for the node. (Colbert had urged viewers to write in his name, inciting a surge of votes that vaulted him into the top slot.)

The long-simmering standoff between Stephen Colbert and NASA comes to an end tonight, when the space agency unveils its name for a new International Space Station (ISS) module on the Colbert Report.

To recap: NASA is expanding the ISS later this year with the addition of its Node 3, a module that will house life-support systems and a robotic-arm command station with a panoramic observatory. But Node 3 isn't the snappiest moniker, so the space agency set up an online poll where people could vote for their fave name from a list or write in a candidate of their own.

Need to use the john? Why not use the Colbert instead? Future astronauts may have that option, as NASA is reportedly considering naming a toilet on the International Space Station (ISS) after the comedian.

A NASA poll to suggest a name for a new ISS node was flooded with write-in votes for "Colbert" after the Colbert Report host urged his viewers to stuff the virtual ballot box. ("We have a great relationship," he told Colbert Nation, "you love naming things after me, and I love telling you to do it.") When voting ended Friday, Colbert had beaten "Serenity," the leader among non-write-ins, by more than 40,000 votes, according to space.com. (Colbert launched a similar crusade this past winter called "Operation Humble Kanye," seeking to catapult his own A Colbert Christmas album over West's number-one-ranked 808s & Heartbreak on the iTunes Music Store charts.)

Naming your kid after you is one thing. But imagine if an entire species were named for you.

This week, Purdue University is auctioning off the rights to name seven newly discovered bats and two turtles, the Associated Press is reporting. The winners — who will shell out a minimum of $250,000 for at least one of the bats, a Purdue spokesman told ScientificAmerican.com — can link their own name or that of a pal to the animal’s scientific name.

"Unlike naming a building or something like that, this is much more permanent. This will last as long as we have our society," John Bickham, who co-discovered the nine species, told the AP.

The practice of binomial nomenclature dates back to the 18th century, when Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus began classifying organisms with their genus name and species — sometimes dubbing plants or animals with the names of scientists he disliked. But buying the name is a recent development that’s occurred only in the past three years, according to the Chicago Tribune.

A civilian American astronaut is a step closer to becoming the latest space tourist, after the rocket he'll travel in was transported to a launch pad in Kazakhstan today ahead of its weekend blastoff.

The Soyuz TMA-13 was taken three miles by rail to the Baikonur launch area in the south-central region of the country at dawn today, the Associated Press reports. The shuttle is scheduled to take off Sunday at 3:01 A.M. ET.

On board will be Richard Garriott of Austin, Texas, a millionaire video game designer and son of astronaut Owen Garriott, who took photos of Earth aboard the U.S. orbital station Skylab in 1973. In addition to performing the role of shutterbug (he's planning to take nearly 500 shots of Earth), Garriott, 47, will serve as a guinea pig of sorts for scientists checking out how space travel affects his eyes.

Of course he already thought he was, but millennia from now, when whatever life form looks back on humanity, Stephen Colbert will be the Homo sapiens prototype.

Colbert, 44 , Comedy Central's mock-conservative newsman, is sending his DNA to the International Space Station next month in an attempt to stave off human extinction.  No joke.

"I am thrilled to have my DNA shot into space, as this brings me one step closer to my life-long dream of being the baby at the end of [the 1968 classic sci-fi film] 2001," Colbert quipped in a news release.