Nasa risked the wrath of millions of comedy fans across the cosmos, announcing it had named the International Space Station's next module Tranquility.

After trawling through thousands of suggestions posted on the agency's website, Nasa said it had decided on Tranquility after the eponymous lunar sea.

Astronaut Sunita Williams appeared on the Comedy Central channel on Tuesday to announce the results of the contest dubbed the Help Name Node 3 poll.

But the 43-year-old's announcement on the Colbert Report - a satirical news programme - was greeted with a frosty reception by the audience.

Fans of the cult show had called for the module to be named after the Colbert Report host, Stephen Colbert. In a statement Nasa's Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations, said "we don't typically name US space station hardware after living people and this is no exception. Apollo 11 landed on the moon at the Sea of Tranquility 40 years ago this July. We selected Tranquility because it ties it to exploration and the moon, and symbolises the spirit of international cooperation embodied by the space station," Mr Gerstenmaier said in a statement. But Mr Williams, who has served on the International Space Station, offered some consolation for the booing crowd. The treadmill is expected to be safely stowed inside the Tranquility, when the node arrives at the ISS next year.

Mr Colbert, apparently pleased with his imminent foray into space travel, joked that "however far the Space Station goes, my treadmill will always have gone a few miles more".