Astronauts have already done a test run on it

Oct 8, 2009 06:26 GMT  ·  By

The $5-million Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT) that was carried aboard the International Space Station (ISS) with space shuttle Discovery during STS-128 has now finally been assembled aboard the orbital outpost. In spite of the fact that the spacecraft returned home about a month ago, it took a while for the crew to put the treadmill together, mostly because of the hectic schedule aboard the ISS over the past few weeks. The new instrument now awaits a number of tests, as the mission controllers want to ensure it's functioning properly, Space reports,

The new, zero-gravity treadmill was named after the host of the fake-conservative show “The Colbert Report” that ran on Comedy Central, in the United States. Originally, Stephen Colbert wanted to have his name on the new Node 3 part of the ISS, for which NASA had opened a naming contest at the time. However, the American space agency selected the name Tranquility for the module, so as to keep in tune with the other names it had for its ISS components or space probes.

Because it wanted to show people that their votes counted, it renamed the treadmill, which will be an important part of the astronauts' daily-exercise routine. In microgravity, such instruments are of a paramount importance, because they help the ISS crew keep in shape, and also prevent muscular and bone loss, which is one of the most difficult to treat problems. The lack of gravity means that the muscles need not work so hard to keep the body straight, so they lose mass. Those staying for more than six months aboard the scientific outpost are, naturally, most at risk.

“It's all put together in its rack but it hasn't been checked out yet. The team is working on it. They'll evaluate the data and the crew will be given a 'go' or 'no go' to run on it. They can have increased force as their foot falls as they hit the treadmill and that's what really helps with maintaining their bone density. It's a commercial off-the-shelf treadmill that's been outfitted especially for spaceflight,” Kelly Humphries, a NASA spokesperson, says. “It's actually a beautiful piece of hardware. I think it's going to be a really excellent piece of exercise equipment. We're actually really looking forward to getting to run all over COLBERT,” NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, currently aboard the ISS, concludes.