Colbert wins naming contest! ISS Node 3 may now become Colbert (node Colbert?)

Colbert wins!

NASA's online contest to name a new room at the international space station went awry. Comedian Stephen Colbert won.

The name "Colbert" beat out NASA's four suggested options in the space agency's effort to have the public help name the addition. The new room will be launched later this year.

NASA's mistake was allowing write-ins. Colbert urged viewers of his Comedy Central show, "The Colbert Report" to write in his name. And they complied, with 230,539 votes. That clobbered Serenity, one of the NASA choices, by more than 40,000 votes. Nearly 1.2 million votes were cast by the time the contest ended Friday.

NASA's "mistake"? Au contraire, MSNBC. Since when does NASA get this much publicity for a single piece of the International Space Station? No, Colbert has done NASA a huge service with this one. Now we just have to wait and see whether NASA will actually approve the name, since legally they're not bound to do so.