The World Wide Web might want to consider a name-change now that its reach has expanded beyond the confines of our planet.

NASA announced Friday that an upgrade to the International Space Station this week means astronauts are now online.

The crew aboard celebrated by posting their first tweet Friday morning.

"Hello Twitterverse! We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station — the 1st live tweet from Space! :) More soon, send your ?s," space station resident T.J. Creamer posted.

The personal Web access, called the Crew Support LAN, takes advantage of existing communication links to and from the space station and gives astronauts the ability to surf from their floating home.

"The system will provide astronauts with direct private communications to enhance their quality of life during long-duration missions by helping to ease the isolation associated with life in a closed environment," NASA said in a release.

The crew's access to the Internet is via a ground computer, where they will be logging in remotely using an onboard laptop.

The astronauts will be able to log into their e-mail account, use a webphone and have limited videoconferencing capabilities.

But, as government employees, they have to keep it clean if they plan to surf.

"Astronauts will be subject to the same computer use guidelines as government employees on Earth," NASA noted.

The current crew aboard the space station is setting up new research facilities, including the new Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT), named after TV comic-pundit Stephen Colbert.

———

On the Net:

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html

Creamer’s Twitter feed: http://bit.ly/90Wy8e