Stephen Colbert has often advocated for space interests on his show for comedic benefit, but usually providing positive exposure for the space program in the process. In 2009, for example, when NASA held an online contest to name a room on the International Space Station, Colbert rallied enough of his viewers that the “Colbert” node was the winner. As NASA does not name spacecraft after living people, they dubbed an earth-based treadmill in his honor the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT).
This week, NASA presented a tongue-in-cheek public service announcement from Colbert, made on the set of his show but without a studio audience to laugh at him. In it, Colbert reminds us of the practical research NASA does on the Space Station.