Chaka Fattah supports Stephen Colbert’s choice for NASA module

Comedian Stephen Colbert so owes our boy Chaka Fattah.
The U.S. Congressman who grew up in the Overbrook neighborhood in West Philadelphia has gone to bat for the star of Comedy Central show the Colbert Report in his bid to choose the name of a NASA space station module.
Colbert received the highest number of votes in an open naming contest, boosted by his calls for support on his show. Still, NASA has reserved the right to choose its own name, despite the comedian’s choice of “Colbert” getting the most votes.
Fattah is clamoring for justice to be done.
“The people have spoken, and Stephen Colbert won it fair and square,” Fattah said in a press release. “Even if his campaign was a bit over the top.”

NASA offered four possibilities in its online contest to name Nodule 3 in the new international space station, but also allowed write-in votes. Colbert generated 230,539 write-ins with appeals on his late-night “Colbert Report.” [Source]

NASA said today it would make a decision in a couple of weeks.
Can you believe it has been more than three years since Colbert and Fattah first squared off on this hilarious Better Know a District series?

We’d be remiss not to mention that WHYY’s SkyTalk co-host and Franklin Institute chief astronomer Derrick Pitts was on the Colbert Report last night discussing the International Year of Astronomy and the contest. Link to follow.
In other celestial news, cosmonauts have been grumbling about space bureaucracy and last month a Chester County firm sued NASA over their experiments.
Hat tip to It’s Our City.