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Staying fit in space is about to get easier now that astronauts on the International Space Station have finished building a new zero-gravity treadmill named after TV comedian Stephen Colbert.
Dubbed COLBERT after the host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” the new exercise treadmill is now awaiting a series of tests to make sure it’s working correctly before astronauts can begin running on it.
“It’s done, and we’re looking at it right now,” space station flight engineer Nicole Stott said Monday via a video link.
The $5 million space treadmill was unpacked on the orbiting lab in September, but took about 20 hours for astronauts to put it together from more than 100 pieces. Four of the station’s six astronaut residents wore broad smiles as they piled onto the treadmill for an impromptu “test run” last week, but spun their legs in weightlessness since the exercise machine was not yet ready for full operations. Full story here.
