Photo: Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty
Nichelle Nichols might have been famous for traveling through space inStar Trek, but she also helped a new generation of astronauts with dreams of reaching the real final frontier.
Nichols — who played Lt. Nyota Uhura in the iconic television series — helped NASA recruit some of its first female and minority astronauts, the space agency said in a tweet this weekend after the actressdied Saturday at age 89.
“We celebrate the life of Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek actor, trailblazer, and role model, who symbolized to so many what was possible,” thetweetread. “She partnered with us to recruit some of the first women and minority astronauts and inspired generations to reach for the stars.”
On NASA’swebsite, the agency said Nichols appeared in a promotional film meant to inspire women and people of color to apply to become astronauts.
Soon after, Guy Bluford, the first Black American in space, and Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, were appointed toNASA’s astronaut class of 1978.
CBS via Getty
“I had always been proud of our feats in space,” Nichols said during aspeechat NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in February 2012. “But something always bothered me: ‘Where are the women? Where are the people of color?’ "
“Now more than ever, we’re exploring space beyond the ‘beyond,'” she said during the event. “I wish I could live forever so I could live to see it because we’re on our way to the 23rd century that [Star Trekcreator] Gene Roddenberry gave us… All our posterity will benefit from the growth of NASA.”
“Nichelle Nichols was a trailblazing actress, advocate and dear friend to NASA,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in astatement. “At a time when Black women were seldom seen on screen, Nichelle’s portrayal as Nyota Uhura on Star Trek held a mirror up to America that strengthened civil rights.”
RELATED VIDEO: Nichelle Nichols, Barrier-Breaking Star Trek Actress, Dead at 89
WhenStar Trekfirst aired in 1966, Nichols was one of the first Black women to play a major role on primetime television.
She is often cited as having the first interracial kiss on American television when her character famously kissed white leading manWilliam Shatner’s Captain James T. Kirk.
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Nichols was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1992, and when the originalStar Trekcast was honored in 1991, she becamethe first African-American to place her handprints and signaturein front of Hollywood’s Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
source: people.com
