NASA Names Space Module

[mickw]

Displaying both a sense of history and humor, NASA on Tuesday revealed "Tranquility" as the name of its newest space station module, while christening a new astronaut exercise device after comedian Stephen Colbert, whose name led their public opinion poll for what to name the orbiting outpost's new room.

Appearing on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report", the late night satirical news show hosted by Colbert, astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams broke the news that the space agency would not be naming the new Node 3 module after the comedian. Instead, the space agency gave him the consolatory honor as the namesake for the International Space Station's (ISS) upgraded treadmill.

More:   http://www.space.com/news/090414-colbert-space-station-node.html

[Rick]

Europe has rolled out its last major module for the space station.

The cylindrical Node 3 - to be known as "Tranquility" - was constructed by Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8053963.stm