NASA names Node 3, 'Serenity' by Haken

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

NASA names Node 3, 'Serenity'

POSTED BY: HAKEN
UPDATED: Monday, April 13, 2009 10:26
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VIEWED: 19313
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Tuesday, March 31, 2009 10:48 PM

Likes to mess with stuffs.

WASHINGTON -- NASA, in response to Stephen Colberts threat against the agency, and after a lengthy deliberation amongst NASA administrators and the congressional committee responsible for overseeing the naming of the ISS Node 3, NASA officials made their decision to go with the name 'Serenity' instead of the write-in name, 'Colbert,' after Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert.

"We take these threats against NASA very seriously," said an official at the space agency, referring to Colbert's warning against NASA Monday night on the 'Colbert Report' where Colbert demanded the node be named after him or he will "seize power as space's evil tyrant overlord."

'Colbert' beat out 'Serenity' in NASA's online poll by 230,000 votes after Colbert urged his fans to add his name as a write-in. "Well you voted, folks and look what happened," Colbert said Monday evening on his show. "Unfortunately, Houston may have a problem with it."

"Yes, most definitely we have a problem with it," said a spokesman for NASA. "And it's not what most people think. 'Colbert' is a very difficult name to say correctly," he added. "It took us half the day just to get it right, and these are scientists and engineers--America's brightest. They all thought it was like 'Dilbert,' but it's actually more like 'Cold Bear' and we didn't want people thinking that the module was Russian."

Set to be delivered to the International Space Station in 2010 by the shuttle, Endeavour, Node 3 is the most advanced life support system ever flown in space. The multi billion dollars Node 3 will recycle waste water, generate oxygen, and remove atmospheric contaminants on board the ISS.

Also contained within Node 3 is the $19 million dollars Waste and Hygiene Compartment (toilet), which has now been thrust into the spotlight because of the naming fiasco.

When asked whether the toilet will carry the 'Colbert' moniker, NASA officials declined to make any official announcements, but inside sources says it's a possibility.

"The capability of the WHC exceeds all similar devices on this planet in its ability to vacuum up and prevent the extrication of human waste," said T.D. Boles, a NASA sanitary engineer. "It'll be an honor to have Colbert's name on it. The residence of the ISS will find comfort knowing their wastes are going to the right place for safe keeping."

Firefly Browncoats and fellow Whedonites are estatic about the announcement. "It was tough going for a while, but we floated like a leaf on the wind and it turned out great," said a fan. "We survive and sometimes actually win some."

No strangers at slaying evil tyrant overlords, Josh Whedon, creator of 'Firefly.' is honored that Node 3 will be named, 'Serenity.'

"It's great," said Whedon, "Shiny even. Shiny, shiny. Here, watch me do the Happy Dance."

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Tuesday, March 31, 2009 11:09 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

The satinary engineer TD Boles prompted suspicion.

Also have not heard Joss say Shiny to the press.

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Tuesday, March 31, 2009 11:20 PM

RALLEM

Very well written though.

http://www.swyzzlestyx.com/index.html

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Tuesday, March 31, 2009 11:26 PM

CORNCOBB

LOL that time of year again. Good one.

"Gorramit Mal... I've forgotten my line."

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Tuesday, March 31, 2009 11:31 PM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.

Quote:
Originally posted by jewelstaitefan:
The satinary engineer TD Boles prompted suspicion.

Also have not heard Joss say Shiny to the press.

LOL...yeah...I didn't want it sounding too real.

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 12:34 AM

AMDOBELL

Oh this was just wonderful news! It sounds as if Colbert is a jerk so if the toilet does get his name on it I can't think of a better place to flush all the effluent. And we get Node 3 named Serenity, how totally cool is that? Yay! I am joining Joss in a Happy Dance! Plus the name Serenity actually goes with the names of the other nodes perfectly so it's a win for the good guys.

Ali D :~)
You can't take the sky from me...

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 2:11 AM

BROWNCOAT1

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.

Bravo Haken! You got me. LOL

__________________________________________
Holding the line since December '02!

Richmond, VA & surrounding area Firefly Fans:

http://www.richmondbrowncoats.org

Color Officer / Battalion O.I.C.

http://76thbattalion.homestead.com/index.html

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 2:21 AM

LEMMING

date

Had me going for a moment :-)

If nothing else the mispelling of "Josh Whedon" should have alerted you that a largish pinch of salt was required :-)

Nick

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 2:25 AM

ASTRIANA

Haken, you almost had me honey! I've been away FAR too long...

~Astriana~

...I'm still free,
You can't take the sky from me.

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 2:27 AM

AMDOBELL

Gorramit, that was a cruel joke. I swallowed it hook, line and sinker because I wanted the node to be named Serenity so much and not stupid Colbert. It being April 1st I should have expected it was a wind up. Sigh.

Ali D :~)
You can't take the sky from me...

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 2:36 AM

GILOVE2DANCE

GGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO you are so evil to give me such joy and then snatch it away with an April Fool's joke....grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! >___<

Good one, you totally got me til I read the comments...sigh.

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 3:16 AM

FREELANCERTEX

that's absolutely hilarious. when are they actually announcing the name, anyone know? *swears she will stab something if they name it Colbert*

Edit: the 'colbert beating serenity by 230,000' votes was a dead giveaway.

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 3:42 AM

FREMDFIRMA

*applauds*

Well done, Hak old buddy!

-F

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 4:09 AM

JAKE7

Too funny, Haken!

Luckily, I only fell for it when I read the title, once I read the article, I knew it was a good old-fashioned April Fool's!

Great job!!

--------------
MAL: Everybody's makin' a fuss.
***********
"They just float out there, sending out raver breeding parties..."

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 4:14 AM

CHRISISALL

Ya got me. Good one!

The laughing Chrisisall

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 5:21 AM

PHYRELIGHT

Happy April Fool's Day to you too, Haken! :P

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 6:43 AM

CASIVONA

Gah! Had me goin' there for a moment!

___________________________________________________
Check out the PodCulture podcast - Home of equal opportunity geekness! www.podculture.net

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 10:07 AM

NINGJINGDEREN

The shuttle should be named "Inara".

Edit: Please understand this was actually posted about 15 minutes after Haken's post (below) to which it is a reply.

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 10:58 AM

WHOZIT

YES!! IN YOUR UGLY FACE COLBERT!!

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 12:00 PM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.

I do wish it was true though. If not the ISS Node, maybe we can get a shuttle.

BTW, I messed up something and this post is timestamped wrong. Sorry for the weirdness.

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 3:42 PM

PEULSAR5

We sniff the air, we don't kiss the dirt.

Far be it from me to grouse when I get got. Very well done.

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 5:31 PM

FLORALBUNNY

Love it!!!

bun
on the run

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 6:17 PM

VETERAN

Don't squat with your spurs on.

I'd prefer an actual ship, or a whole station.

BTW that was almost as good as NPR's bit about the Michigan legislature enacting a bill forcing the Detroit Lions to change their name because it was embarassing to lions everywhere to be associated with a 0 for 16 team.

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 6:51 PM

TAIMDALA

Back when the voting started, I thought I'd run up a little motivational pic to keep me going:

Looks like it worked!

Never never never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 7:29 PM

JRNYFAN

you fiend! I believed it hook line and sinker and I even spent all day long on /. just to prepare myself!

well done sir, well done indeed

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 8:47 PM

SHINYGOODGUY

Standing O for our shiny host.....well played, Haken, well played.

SGG

Tawabawho?

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 8:54 PM

SHINYGOODGUY

Not a bad idea njd, Inara's shuttle, very clever indeed.

Oh, if we Browncoats ran the world........a shiny universe would be ours (sorry, I'm getting sleepy).

SGG

Tawabawho?

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Thursday, April 2, 2009 2:04 AM

TAIMDALA

It's a hoax. Really?

Rats.

Some days I'm just too gullible for words.

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Thursday, April 2, 2009 4:39 AM

LEEDAVIDT

haken p'wned me big time !
however, "Serenity" sure does have a
nice ring to it :)

Salesman: Yup. Real beauty, ain't she? Yes sir.
[The rocket-shaped vessel that the salesman is trying to sell Mal comes into view.]
Salesman: Tell you what. You buy this ship - treat her proper - she'll be with you for the rest of your life.
[But Mal has his attention caught by something else.]
Salesman: Son? Hey, son?
[As we follow Mal's point of view, we see a battered old Firefly, someday to become "Serenity," sitting on the other side of the lot.]
Salesman: You hear a word I been sayin'?

http://www.myspace.com/leedavidt

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Thursday, April 2, 2009 10:22 AM

WHOSTHATGIRL

Check your sources people.

If it ain't up on the NASA Web site, it must be April 1.

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Thursday, April 2, 2009 12:33 PM

LEMMING

Quote:
Originally posted by leedavidt:
haken p'wned me big time !
however, "Serenity" sure does have a
nice ring to it :)

Salesman: Yup. Real beauty, ain't she? Yes sir.
[The rocket-shaped vessel that the salesman is trying to sell Mal comes into view.]
Salesman: Tell you what. You buy this ship - treat her proper - she'll be with you for the rest of your life.
[But Mal has his attention caught by something else.]
Salesman: Son? Hey, son?
[As we follow Mal's point of view, we see a battered old Firefly, someday to become "Serenity," sitting on the other side of the lot.]
Salesman: You hear a word I been sayin'?

http://www.myspace.com/leedavidt

There's still a chance they'll go with the right one.

Love that bit of OOG. That's why we used it as the opener for S5 of The Signal :-)

Sums it all up.

Nick

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Thursday, April 2, 2009 5:52 PM

SHINY

Nice one, Haken! :) I actually thought this was an April Fool's press release put out by NASA itself! I guess I should have known better; they could never be this funny (they are too conservative and worried about getting into political trouble)

---

I don't need a gorram back-spaceship driver!!!

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Monday, April 6, 2009 4:54 AM

CAMPHILLPAWHEDONITE1956

this is shiney news, i had hoped nasa would name the node serenity because it fits the space theme better than colbert.

stay shiney all.

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Monday, April 6, 2009 4:56 AM

JAYNESMANE

Aw, I wanted to believe this! I know they named a ship Enterprise, so I thought just maybe..

oh well!

---
http://surveysafari.x10hosting.com/redirect.html - Make money online filling out surveys!

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Monday, April 6, 2009 5:02 AM

CAMPHILLPAWHEDONITE1956

ok so you got me haken, evil april folls joke. just wish nasa had the balls to override the vote count for real. by the way i liked the person who posted the photo with the patch on the node nice work.

stay shiney all.

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Monday, April 13, 2009 10:24 AM

OUT2THEBLACK

http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/

'...NASA plans to announce the name selected for the newest module for the International Space Station on April 14 - with the help of Expedition 14 and 15 astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams - on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." The program will air at 11:30 pm EDT.

NASA originally planned to announce the node's name on April 28, after it arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. However, the node's arrival at Kennedy is delayed until May, so the announcement was moved ahead to April 14.

The name, which will not be publicly released until the program airs, was selected from thousands of unique suggestions submitted on NASA's web site. The "Help Name Node 3" poll asked people to vote for the module's name, either by choosing one of four NASA options or by offering their own suggestion. The poll closed on March 20.

"The node naming poll was organic and took on a life of its own," said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We received more than a million entries, in large part because social media Web sites and television programs, such as 'The Colbert Report,' took an interest. This spread overall awareness of the International Space Station."

The show's producers offered to host the name selection announcement after comedian and host Stephen Colbert took interest during the census and urged his followers to post the name "Colbert." "I certainly hope NASA does the right thing," said Colbert. "Just kidding, I hope they name it after me."

A staggering 1,190,437 people voted or suggested names for the module. Of the names submitted by the public, "Colbert" got the most votes. NASA's suggested names, in order of popularity, were "Serenity," "Legacy," "Earthrise," and "Venture." Of the four, "Serenity" was the overwhelming favorite, receiving 70 percent of the votes.'

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=92647ba7-a0b2-474d-9
97d-dfbe11b868fd &

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Monday, April 13, 2009 10:26 AM

OUT2THEBLACK

Quote:
Originally posted by WhosThatGirl:
Check your sources people.

If it ain't up on the NASA Web site, it must be April 1.

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