March 24, 2009

Stephen Colbert may be honored with a namesake space toilet

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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.)

Colbert had gone so far as to submit an on-air challenge to William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, to uphold the results of the poll if he prevails in his campaign. "Well, we're going to have to go think about that," Gerstenmaier parried.

SPACE.com now reports that "NASA insiders" say the agency might be more amenable to naming a small but vital part of the station after Colbert—the toilet. Agency spokesperson John Yembrick demurred on the subject but couldn't resist cracking a joke himself. "As for the toilet rumor," he told SPACE.com, "we don't want to flush away any goodwill by announcing something before we are ready."

Photo of Colbert by David Shankbone via Wikimedia Commons

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