By Chris Benedict

2015 was already unfolding as a grim year for Trekkies. First the loss of Leonard Nimoy-our beloved Spock-in February, followed exactly eleven weeks later by the death of Grace Lee Whitney, the beautiful blonde who portrayed Yeoman Janice Rand in Star Trek’s first season.

Then in early June came anxious reports of Nichelle Nichols, the Enterprise’s Communications Officer-and my first official boyhood crush-Lieutenant Uhura, being rushed to the hospital after suffering what fortunately turned out to be a “mild stroke”. One week later Ms. Nichols was home and resting comfortably, but she does not intend to stay housebound for long.
The 82 year-old actress, singer, and dancer revealed this past week, during an installment of Reddit’s “Ask Me Anything”, that she will be among the crew aboard the launch of NASA’s exploratory vessel SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) on September 15. Unlike Lt. Uhura, who ventured into the 23rd Century’s Final Frontier, Ms. Nichols will not be leaving earth’s orbit. SOFIA is “an airborne observatory, with a massive telescope mounted inside a 747 flying as high as is possible,” related Nichelle. Undertaken in conjunction with the German Aerospace Center, the exercise will provide scientists with infrared, sub-millimeter views of “portions of the universe visible only from Earth’s Southern Hemisphere”, according to NASA.

When the series was canceled after its third season, Nichols used her post-Star Trek nerd cred to meet the needs of both the few and the many by taking part in a successful NASA recruitment program in the 1970s and 80s specifically geared towards women and African Americans. Sally Ride, America’s first female astronaut, and Guion Bluford Jr., the first black man to pilot a space shuttle mission, were beneficiaries of this program. In 1977, Nichols herself flew on the Gerald P. Kuiper Airborne Observatory, the forerunner to SOFIA.
Hailing frequencies open, Nichelle.

Live Long and Prosper!

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