Ashes of Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols to Head for Deep Space
The remains of the groundbreaking actor will travel beyond NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.
Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura at her communications console on the bridge of the Enterprise in the original Star Trek series.
The ashes of late actress Nichelle Nichols, who portrayed Lieutenant Uhura on the original Star Trek TV series, will be launched into space later this year.
Celestis, a private company that conducts memorial spaceflights, said Friday it will carry her cremated remains about 186 million miles into space, beyond NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, aboard a Vulcan Centaur rocket.
"We are truly honored to add a legendary actress, activist, and educator to the Enterprise Flight manifest," Celestis CEO Charles M. Chafer said in a statement. "Now our Enterprise Flight will have on board the person who most completely embodied the vision of Star Trek as … diverse, inclusive, and exploring the universe."
Nichols, who helped break down color barriers as one of the first Black actors to have a leading role in a network TV series, died in July at the age of 89. Playing the USS Enterprise's translator and communications officer, she's also credited with helping NASA recruit women and minorities to be astronaut candidates.
The rocket, set to launch later this year from Cape Canaveral, Florida, will carry more than 200 capsules containing ashes, messages of greetings and DNA samples. The ashes of other Star Trek figures will also be on the flight, including series creator Gene Roddenberry; his wife Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who played Nurse Chapel in the original series; James Doohan, who played Montgomery "Scotty" Scott; and Douglas Trumbull, who created visual effects for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
The flight will also include messages of tribute that fans can send through the flight's website, said Kyle Johnson, Nichols' son. "My only regret is that I cannot share this eternal tribute standing beside my mother at the launch," he said in a statement.
Roddenberry cast Nichols in Star Trek as the Enterprise's comms officer in 1966, a groundbreaking role that came in the middle of the civil rights movement. She stayed with the series until it was canceled in 1969 and reprised the role in six Star Trek films between 1979 and 1991, along with fellow original cast members William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley and George Takei.
Nichols also had a close association with NASA, helping sign up Guion Bluford, the first Black astronaut, and Sally Ride, the first female American astronaut (among others). Mae Jemison, the first woman of color to travel in space, has cited Nichols as one of her inspirations.