In this 2007 photo, Stephen Colbert poses during the launch party for Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream, his new Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavour, in New York. Now he's leading an online NASA poll to get his name on a room to be added to the international space station. (Jason DeCrow/Associated Press)

Stephen Colbert's efforts to get his name plastered everywhere has hit the stratosphere — he's leading an online NASA poll to get his name on a new room to be added to the international space station.

The TV comedian, who plays a right-wing commentator on The Colbert Report, has been urging viewers to vote on NASA's website and the tactic seems to be working.

By Tuesday, the votes for Colbert came to almost 115,000, with Serenity trailing at 98,641.

The other American rooms in the orbiting outpost are called Unity, Harmony and Destiny.

William Gerstenmaier, the NASA official in charge of space station operations, was a guest on The Colbert Report Tuesday night.

He said the contest was a way to get people excited about space.

"I'm looking for folks to be creative and think about what they're doing," said the engineer.

The new room, currently named Node 3, is scheduled to be delivered at the end of the year.

Voting continues until March 20 and NASA does have an out.

Its contest rules say voting results "are not binding on NASA and NASA reserves the right to ultimately select a name" in keeping with its best interests.

Colbert will make it to the space station one way or another. Last September, Comedy Central said it will digitize the comedian's DNA and send it to the International Space Station.

The space station's "Immortality Drive" is a time capsule of human DNA, a history of humanity's greatest achievements and personal messages.

Colbert's attempts to spread his name far and wide has resulted in getting a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavour, a Hungarian bridge and a peregrine falcon named after him.

With files from the Associated Press