The ashes of celebrated “Star Trek” actress Nichelle Nichols will be released into space from a Vulcan Centaur rocket later this year.
Her cremated remains will be aboard the first Celestis Voyager Memorial Spaceflight, which will launch from Cape Canaveral. Celestis, Inc., is a private company that conducts memorial spaceflights.
Other “Star Trek” people whose remains are also aboard the flight are the ashes of creator Gene Roddenberry; his wife Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, who played various roles in the shows, and James Doohan who played Montgomery “Scotty” Scott.
Nichols, who played Lt. Nyota Uhura in the original series and six films, died at 89 on July 30th. She was the only Black character on the series during the civil rights era of the 1960s.
She also helped recruit some of the first female and minority US astronauts in the late 1970s and 80s. The spaceflight will travel beyond NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and into interplanetary deep space.
Capsules onboard will also carry complete human genome DNA samples from willing participants.
Source: CNN
