The lieutenant Nyota Uhura it will have funerary tributes worthy of its rank. The remains of Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played the famous character of star trek, will be taken into space by the company Celestis.
Nichols, who died on July 30 in New Mexico at the age of 89, played Lieutenant Uhura since the late 1960s, becoming one of the first relevant African-American figures on television in the United States.
His ashes and DNA samples will be carried into space on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket, Celestis announced. on your Instagram account. There is no specific date, but it is known that the next Enterprise Flight will take place this year.
In addition to the remains of Nichols, those of the creator of Star Trek will be on the flight, Gene Roddenberry; his wife, Majel Barrett Roddenberry; engineer James “Scotty” Doohan and VFX wizard Douglas Trumbull from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Celestis is a Texas-based company whose goal is to “make the dream of spaceflight a reality by launching a symbolic portion of cremated remains into near space, Earth orbit, the lunar surface, or even beyond.”
“You or your loved one will venture into space as part of a real space mission, traveling together with a commercial or scientific satellite”, says the company on its website.
NASA appreciated the input of Nichelle Nichols, Lieutenant Uhura from Star Trek
Nichols was not only an actress on Star Trek, but between 1977 and 2015 she served as head of recruitment and spokesperson for NASA, in order to discover viable female candidates for the space shuttle program.
Bill Nelson, administrator of the aerospace agency, He had dedicated a few words to her after her death.
“Nichelle Nichols was a trailblazing actress, advocate, and dear friend of NASA. At a time when black women rarely appeared on screen, Nichelle’s performance as Nyota Uhura on Star Trek it was a mirror of the United States that strengthened civil rights.”
“Nichelle’s appearance transcended television and transformed NASA,” added Nelson.
The NASA Artemis Program seeks to take the first woman and the next man to the Moon. Nelson captured the importance of Nichols to the agency’s next challenge.
“Today, as we work to send the first woman and first person of color to the Moon under Artemis, NASA is guided by the legacy of Nichelle Nichols.”