Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill

bungeed to the TVIS treadmill aboard the International Space Station.]]
The Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT), technically named the Treadmill 2 and abbreviated as T2, is a treadmill which is being taken to the International Space Station. It is similar to the existing "Treadmill with Vibration Isolation System" (TVIS), already onboard the ISS, which is designed to allow astronauts to run without vibrating delicate microgravity science experiments in adjacent labs. COLBERT uses a different kind of vibration-suppression system.
The name for the new treadmill came about due to a naming contest that NASA held for at became the Tranquility module. Comedian and TV personality Stephen Colbert used The Colbert Report to encourage his supporters to write in "Colbert" for the contest. After the results of the contest were announced, NASA decided to use Colbert's name for the new treadmill.
Exercise
The new running machine will help astronauts stay fit, fighting off the bone loss and muscle decay that otherwise comes with space travel. Astronauts use bungee cords to strap themselves to the treadmill in order to remain in contact with the equipment while in micro-gravity. Researchers believe that exercise is a good countermeasure for the bone and muscle density loss that occurs when humans live for a long time without gravity.
Naming
In early 2009 NASA held an online poll to name what became the Tranquility module. On the March 3, 2009, episode of The Colbert Report, host Stephen Colbert instructed his viewers to suggest "Colbert" as the name for Node 3 in the online poll. On March 23, 2009, it was announced that "Colbert" had garnered the most votes, but NASA did not immediately commit to using the name.
Congressman Chaka Fattah had pledged to use congressional power to ensure that democratic voting is honored in outer space as well as on planet Earth, in response to the possibility that NASA would overrule the voting. On the April 14, 2009 episode of The Colbert Report, astronaut Sunita Williams appeared on the show to announce that NASA decided to name the node 3 "Tranquility", the eighth most popular response in the vote, and announced that they would name a new treadmill on the station after the comedian - Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT). Colbert was invited to Houston to test the treadmill, and later to Florida for its launch. The treadmill is scheduled to arrive onboard the ISS in August 2009, aboard STS-128 and be installed in Tranquility after the node arrives at the station in February 2010.

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