Thanks Nichelle Nichols

The world was saddened to learn today that Nichelle Nichols who starred as Lt. Uhura through 3 seasons of Star Trek the original series, and the first 6 Star Trek motion pictures has passed away last night July 30th at 89 years old. For decades Nichelle has inspired people of all ages and from all walks of life both in front of the camera as Uhura on Star Trek, and in the real world with her work with NASA.

Nichelle was brought on to recruit astronaut candidates for the space program, beginning in the 1970s. In her first few months of working with NASA, she was responsible for bringing thousands of candidate applications to the program, and recruiting Guion Bluford Jr, and Ronald McNair, the first two African Americans to fly in space, as well as Dr. Sally Ride and Judith Resnik the first two American women to fly in space as well. Nichelle also encouraged Dr. Mae C. Jemison to reapply for the program in the late 1980s after previously not being accepted earlier in the decade. This lead to Dr. Jemison becoming the first African American woman to fly in space in the early 1990’s.

Infront of the camera her work as Uhura over the course the first 25 years of the Star Trek franchise inspired millions around the world, but had it not been for a conversation she had with Dr. Martin Luther King at a event before the start of Star Trek’s second season she might have left the role. As Nichelle recalled during several panels at Mad Monster Party’s and screenings back in 2016 and 2017 Dr. King said “You can not and you must not. Don’t you realize how important your presence, your character is? Don’t you see?” he continued. “This is not a Black role, and this not a female role. You have the first non-stereotypical role on television male or female. You have broken ground.”

“For the first time the world sees us as we should be seen as equals. As intelligent people. As we should be” Those powerful words spoken by Dr. King were enough to convince Nichelle to stay with the series and continue to inspire millions. Thank you, Nichelle.

To learn more about Nichelle’s historic work with the NASA space program check out the documentary Woman in Motion. Available on Blu-ray and streaming on Paramount +