Nichelle Nichols, who played the original Uhura on Star Trek, is set to be part of an upcoming NASA mission. As hinted at during her first Reddit AMA, the 82-year-old actress who suffered a minor stroke three months ago, will be “among the first non-essential personnel to experience NASA’s newest telescope: SOFIA.”
Nichols, Gene Roddenberry and members of the original series cast at the rollout of NASA’s first space shuttle “Enterprise” in 1976.
Nichols, who has been an ambassador for NASA since the 1960s, will fly on the SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy) space telescope on September 15th. SOFIA, a second-generation airborne observatory and a joint project between NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), is built into a Boeing 747 — which will depart from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in southern California.
According to NASA, SOFIA was created to study many different kinds of astronomical objects and phenomena, including: star birth and death, the formation of new solar systems, identification of complex molecules in space, planets, comets and asteroids in our solar system, nebulae and dust in galaxies, and black holes.
We at TrekNews.net would like to wish Ms. Nichols the best in her upcoming mission.
As hinted on my #AMA yesterday, I’ll be onboard a @NASA SOFIA flight in September. Read more: https://t.co/fL45SwAr66 pic.twitter.com/woElJ5IIxi
— Nichelle Nichols (@NichelleIsUhura) July 31, 2015