CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. - Comedian Stephen Colbert is go for the space shuttle
Discovery's Tuesday launch, even if he can't watch the spacecraft send a
treadmill named after him into orbit with his own two eyes.
NASA
invited Colbert, host of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," to watch
Discovery's launch at 1:36 a.m. EDT (0536 GMT), but the comedian was unable
to attend. Instead, he sent NASA a recorded video message urging astronauts to
take advantage of the new COLBERT treadmill that is carrying his name to the
International Space Station.
NASA named
the treadmill COLBERT, short for the lengthy moniker Combined Operational Load
Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, earlier this year after the comedian won
an online poll to name a new space station room after him. NASA opted to name
the new module Tranquility, after the Apollo 11 moon base, instead. But as a
consolation, Colbert got his name - and face - on
a new treadmill for the space station's gym.
While
Colbert lamented losing the space station room, he took some solace knowing
that his treadmill will help keep flabby
astronauts healthy.
"Let's face
it, being weightless is mostly just a desperate bid to get away from the
bathroom scale every morning," he said.
In his
video message, Colbert told NASA's spaceflyers to lay off the astronaut ice
cream and to stretch before using the COLBERT treadmill "because in space no one
can hear you pull a hammy."
He closed with
one final message to NASA: "Now this is Stephen Colbert saying, I am go to launch me. Let's light this candle!"
Discovery
is poised to launch on a
13-day mission to the International Space Station, where its
seven-astronaut crew will deliver the COLBERT treadmill along with more than 7
tons of other cargo. Three spacewalks and a one-astronaut crew change for the
station's six-person crew are also planned.
Discovery
has an 80 percent chance of good launch weather and is now fully fueled for its
predawn Tuesday launch.
Click
here to watch Colbert's video message on collectSPACE.com, a SPACE.com
partner.
SPACE.com
will provide complete coverage of Discovery's STS-128 mission to the
International Space Station with Managing Editor Tariq Malik in Cape Canaveral,
Fla., and Staff Writer Clara Moskowitz. Click here for shuttle mission
updates and a link to NASA TV.
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