NASA flinging Portal 2's space core into space, sort of

Wheatley, the adorably dumb and delightfully devious space core in Portal 2, is making a real-life trip to space. Kind of.

An anonymous tech at NASA got away with laser-engraving the above image of Wheatley with the quote "In spaaaaaaace!" on the Japanese HTV-3 resupply craft to the ISS. Wheatley and the craft are set to launch on Friday, July 27, at 10:06 EST. You can watch the launch beginning at 9:15 EST on Friday at the NASA TV website.

"NASA in no way officially endorses secretly laser-engraving characters from Portal onto their spacecraft," the Portal 2 blog writes. "Believe it or not, they don't even officially endorse Portal 2, despite the fact that it's a really excellent game." But someone (or some robot) at NASA obviously respects quality entertainment.

Update: As many readers have pointed out, the image is likely not referring to Wheatley as the official Portal 2 blog states, but probably referring to Portal 2's "space core" instead. Or it could be the space core's text below an intended image of Wheatley. Only the stars will know now.