![]() ![]() ![]() Star Trek broke new ground in many areas, not the least of which was having a diversity of both human (and alien) races serving as lead characters during a time when television audiences were not accustomed to seeing a serious science fiction series, especially one depicting a strong Black female. This article will show that Nichols was not just a celebrity doing celebrity things but was also employed as a contractor by NASA to help with the space agency’s goal of bringing more attention to itself along with more diversity to its workforce. This essay attempts to focus not so much on Nichols’ television role but on her work with NASA and the larger space community that she later associated with after leaving the series in 1969. Nichelle Nichols’ down-to-earth work with NASA is often overshadowed by her role on Star Trek. There now remain only three regular crew members of the Starship Enterprise: Ensign Chekov (Walter Koenig), Lieutenant Sulu (George Takei) and Captain Kirk (William Shatner) to help remind us of the pioneering television series that originally aired on NBC from 1966 to 1969. With the recent death of Nichelle Nichols, the number of surviving principal cast members of Gene Roddenberry’s original Star Trek television series shrank again. ![]()
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