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NASA chooses history over comedian in naming contest


The international space station module built to house life support equipment and a panoramic observation cupola has been given a name: Tranquility.
Constructed in Italy under the technical identifier Node 3, the multi-hatch connecting module received the official name following an online poll that had taken on a life of its own.
NASA's website invited the public to vote on various choices like Serenity and Earthrise or submit suggestions. Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's nightly "The Colbert Report," seized on the opportunity and urged viewers to write in his name.
And when the voting ended March 20, "Colbert" had received the most support in the non-binding poll that saw some 1,190,437 users vote or submit suggestions.
The space agency used his show to unveil the name Tuesday night.

Tranquility is scheduled for delivery to the Kennedy Space Center from Europe next month. Its launch to the space station is targeted for February aboard shuttle Endeavour's STS-130 mission.

The module will be mounted to the port side of the station's existing Unity connecting node to house eight refrigerator-sized racks of environmental control and life support systems.



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