Los Angeles - US comedian Steven Colbert is heading to space, or at least his name is.

The star, who plays a pompous news commentator on Comedy Central's Colbert Report, had organized fans to vote for him in a NASA competition to name a module on the International Space Station.

Their dedication paid off when the comedian's name came first in the US space agency's online poll, besting all of NASA's suggested names. But the space agency said Wednesday it did not typically name space station hardware after living people, and instead chose the name Tranquility, after the Moon's Sea of Tranquility where the Apollo 11 mission touched down.

The organization did give the comedian a consolation prize, sending US astronaut Sunita Williams onto his show Tuesday night to announce that a new treadmill on the International Space Station would be known as the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or COLBERT.

"I think a treadmill is better than a node ... because the node is just a box for the treadmill," remarked Colbert on Tuesday's broadcast of his nightly show. "Nobody says, 'Hey, my mom bought me a Nike box.' They want the shoes that are inside."

NASA invited the comedian to watch the space shuttle launch scheduled for August that will take the treadmill into space. (dpa)