NASA to Announce Node 3 name on Colbert

[Squiggy]

Tomorrow night, NASA Astronaut and former ISS crewmember Suni Williams will appear on The Colbert Report to announce the name of the new ISS node.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=27940

 

[Johnny Rico]

Knowing you Squiggy, I bet you're one of Colbert's minions who submitted his name to the Node 3 poll.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

And my prediction on the naming is...

Brb, I gotta go take a Colbert.

 

[Chris3123]

And Node 3 will be called...

Tranquility. Ha! Both Colbert fans and Firefly fans were screwed.

The good news for Colbert, though, is that they are naming something inside the node after him: a treadmill. It's called the C.O.L.B.E.R.T., Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill.

 

[Squiggy]

In case you're playing along at home...neither of top picks were selected. Way to go NASA.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

I liked my answer better. LOL

 

[Brent]

So they have a poll, name the node, then just decide to go ahead and name it themselves anyway? wtf

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

What was the point of the poll, esp if they're not going to honor the top vote-getters, one of which was even their own suggestion? Talk about another NASA prank

 

[bryce]

Yeah...uh...I'm not really sure here how "Tranquility" is a more suitable name than for the node than "Serenity" was...?

Both fit the theme. ("Serenity" actually moreso, imho - as the other two existing nodes are "Harmony" & Unity".) The only difference is that one didn't win a naming poll...

Seems a good way to turn a public relations stunt into a bad public relations decision...

*doh*

(It would be cool if the decided to save the name "Serenity" for a bigger
station section...but I doubt it...)

 

[Squiggy]

There is no bigger station section going up. It's pretty much complete.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

Squiggy is correct (of course! He's our pulse monitor for KSC fer Zathras' sake!). The Habitation Module and the CAM Module, along with the deliciously named Enterprise module (that one was gonna be on the Russian side) have all been canned.

The loss of the Hab module leaves astronauts bunking in what had been designed to be itinerant modules.

Are they still using the table made from box tops in the Zvezda, or did they finally get a real table for the crew to assemble around?

 

[bryce]

Squiggy is correct (of course! He's our pulse monitor for KSC fer Zathras' sake!). The Habitation Module and the CAM Module, along with the deliciously named Enterprise module (that one was gonna be on the Russian side) have all been canned.

The loss of the Hab module leaves astronauts bunking in what had been designed to be itinerant modules.

Are they still using the table made from box tops in the Zvezda, or did they finally get a real table for the crew to assemble around?

Yeah, that's what my SEDS friends tell me too...(it was just wishful thinking on my part...)

I wish the Transhab would get resurrected...but I know that's never going to happen (didn't Congress even make *sure* an inflatable module couldn't be funded?)

But I hear that NASA hopes that in the future other nations and/or private firms will add on to the station (and it's designed with this in mind.) And political winds could change and more modules could be ordered in the future...(more wishful thinking, I know...)


Maybe Virgin will add a hotel module or something...

 

[Alpha_Geek]

Transhab? There are 2 subscale prototypes flying right now under the flag of private enterprise.

www.bigelowaerospace.com

Here's a link for images of Earth taken from one of their two modules,
http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/genesis_II/?Recent_Images


Bigelow is utilizing transhab tech in the hopes of creating orbital habitats for recreation and industry. A nice Trekky name for the 2 demonstrator models, also... Genesis I and II.

Bigelow is also offerring a prize much like the X-Prize for an orbital passenger ferry. Along with a cash prize, there is a contract to be awarded to service Bigelows orbital facility when it is up and running.

 

[bryce]

Transhab? There are 2 subscale prototypes flying right now under the flag of private enterprise.

www.bigelowaerospace.com

Here's a link for images of Earth taken from one of their two modules,
http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/genesis_II/?Recent_Images


Bigelow is utilizing transhab tech in the hopes of creating orbital habitats for recreation and industry. A nice Trekky name for the 2 demonstrator models, also... Genesis I and II.

Bigelow is also offerring a prize much like the X-Prize for an orbital passenger ferry. Along with a cash prize, there is a contract to be awarded to service Bigelows orbital facility when it is up and running.

That's cool...I remember reading about that a year or so ago...

I think it would be neat if they could work out an arrangement with NASA to attach a full-scale (beta) test version on the ISS - they would get a crewed testbed, and NASA (and the station crews) would get a replacement for the canceled TransHab module...

As:

Finally in 2000, despite objections from The White House,[4] House Resolution 1654 was signed into law banning NASA from conducting further research and development of Transhab. An option to lease an inflatable habitat module from private industry was included in the bill.[5][6][7]

 

[Alpha_Geek]

Gotta love pork barrel... Transhab was gonna lowball Boeing, and provide three times the volume. Thus:



H.R.1654
National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2000 (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



SEC. 127. TRANS-HAB.

(a) REPLACEMENT STRUCTURE- No funds authorized by this Act shall be obligated for the definition, design, procurement, or development of an inflatable space structure to replace any International Space Station components scheduled for launch in the Assembly Sequence adopted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in June 1999.

(b) EXCEPTION- Notwithstanding subsection (a), nothing in this Act shall preclude the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from leasing or otherwise using a commercially provided inflatable habitation module, if such module would--

(1) cost the same or less, including any necessary modifications to other hardware or operating expenses, than the remaining cost of completing and attaching the baseline habitation module;

(2) impose no delays to the Space Station Assembly Sequence; and

(3) result in no increased safety risk.

(c) REPORT- Notwithstanding subsection (a), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shall report to the Congress by April 1, 2001, on its findings and recommendations on substituting any inflatable habitation module, or other inflatable structures, for one of the elements included in the Space Station Assembly Sequence adopted in June 1999.

 

[Johnny Rico]

In case you're playing along at home...neither of top picks were selected. Way to go NASA.

That's what happens when children overun the voting boothes.

In other words, when the adults vote, you get more sensible results.

 

[Squiggy]

In case you're playing along at home...neither of top picks were selected. Way to go NASA.

That's what happens when children overun the voting boothes.

In other words, when the adults vote, you get more sensible results.

Colbert's target demographic is 18-34...the same target demo as Rise of the Machines.

Any media personality telling his viewers to go and vote for him would win something like this. Andy Rooney, Walter Cronkite, the ghost of Edward R. Murrow. It's not a "child" thing and saying such a thing demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of how media works. If "Spongebob" won, you may have a point.