Editing Nichelle Nichols (section)

== Work with NASA ==
[[File:Space shuttle enterprise star trek-cropcast.jpg|upright=1.7|thumb|Nichols (fourth from the left) with most of the cast of ''Star Trek'' visiting the [[Space Shuttle Enterprise|Space Shuttle ''Enterprise'']] at the [[Rockwell International]] plant at [[Palmdale, California]], U.S., 1976]]
After the cancellation of ''Star Trek'', Nichols volunteered her time in a special project with NASA to recruit minority and female personnel for the space agency.<ref name=":0" /> She began this work by making an affiliation between NASA and a company which she helped to run, Women in Motion.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Prafder |first=Erika |date=February 2, 2011 |title=To boldly go: Groundbreaking actress Nichelle Nichols continues to expand her horizons |work=[[New York Post]] |url=https://nypost.com/2011/02/02/to-boldly-go/ |url-status=live |access-date=August 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190821105324/https://nypost.com/2011/02/02/to-boldly-go/ |archive-date=August 21, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=July 29, 2009 |title=Where No Woman Has Gone Before: An Actress Spotlight on Nichelle Nichols |url=http://bitchmagazine.org/post/where-no-woman-has-gone-before-an-actress-spotlight-on-nichelle-nichols |url-status=dead |magazine=[[Bitch (magazine)|Bitch]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006131851/http://bitchmagazine.org/post/where-no-woman-has-gone-before-an-actress-spotlight-on-nichelle-nichols |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |access-date=September 29, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Levi |first=Linda |date=February 21, 2011 |title=Black History Month Profile: Nichelle Nichols |url=http://www.nywici.org/features/blogs/aloud/black-history-month-profile-nichelle-nichols |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009063639/http://www.nywici.org/features/blogs/aloud/black-history-month-profile-nichelle-nichols |archive-date=October 9, 2011 |access-date=September 29, 2014 |website=New York Women In Communications}}</ref><ref name="nss">{{Cite web |title=Nichelle Nichols, National Space Society Board of Governors |url=http://www.nss.org/about/bios/nichols.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111212223056/http://www.nss.org/about/bios/nichols.html |archive-date=December 12, 2011 |access-date=September 29, 2014 |website=[[National Space Society]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Nichelle Nichols |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Nichelle_Nichols.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018202233/http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Nichelle_Nichols.aspx |archive-date=October 18, 2012 |access-date=August 21, 2019 |website=[[Encyclopedia.com]]}}</ref><ref name="Nichols">{{Cite web |title=Nichelle Nichols, NASA Recruiter |url=http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/ABSTRACTS/GPN-2004-00017.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091222042250/http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/ABSTRACTS/GPN-2004-00017.html |archive-date=December 22, 2009 |access-date=January 9, 2019 |website=[[NASA]]}}</ref><ref name="smithsonian">{{Cite web |last=Arcynta Ali Childs |date=June 11, 2011 |title=Q & A: Nichelle Nichols, AKA Lt. Uhura, and NASA |url=http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2011/06/q-a-nichelle-nichols-aka-lt-uhura-and-nasa/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110627163412/http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2011/06/q-a-nichelle-nichols-aka-lt-uhura-and-nasa/ |archive-date=June 27, 2011 |access-date=January 9, 2019 |publisher=Smithsonian.com |quote=Ten years after "Star Trek" was cancelled, almost to the day, I was invited to join the board of directors of the newly formed National Space Society. They flew me to Washington and I gave a speech called "New Opportunities for the Humanization of Space" or "Space, What's in it for me?" In [the speech], I'm going where no man or woman dares go. I took NASA on for not including women and I gave some history of the powerful women who had applied and, after five times applying, felt disenfranchised and backed off. [At that time] NASA was having their fifth or sixth recruitment and women and ethnic people [were] staying away in droves. I was asked to come to headquarters the next day and they wanted me to assist them in persuading women and people of ethnic backgrounds that NASA was serious [about recruiting them]. And I said you've got to be joking; I didn't take them seriously. . . . John Yardley, who I knew from working on a previous project, was in the room and said 'Nichelle, we are serious.' I said OK. I will do this and I will bring you the most qualified people on the planet, as qualified as anyone you've ever had and I will bring them in droves. And if you do not pick a person of color, if you do not pick a woman, if it's the same old, same old, all-white male astronaut corps, that you've done for the last five years, and I'm just another dupe, I will be your worst nightmare.}}</ref>

The program was a success. Among those recruited were Dr. [[Sally Ride]], the first American female astronaut, and [[United States Air Force]] Colonel [[Guion Bluford]], the first African-American to go into space, as well as Dr. [[Judith Resnik]] and Dr. [[Ronald McNair]], who both flew successful missions during the [[Space Shuttle program]] before their deaths in the [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster]] on January 28, 1986. Recruits also included [[Charles Bolden]], the former [[NASA administrator]] and veteran of four shuttle missions, [[Frederick D. Gregory]], former deputy administrator and a veteran of three shuttle missions and [[Lori Garver]], former deputy administrator. An enthusiastic advocate of space exploration, Nichols served from the mid-1980s on the [[Board of Governors|board of governors]] of the [[National Space Institute]] (today's [[National Space Society]]), a nonprofit, educational [[space advocacy]] organization.<ref name="nss" />

In late 2015, Nichols flew aboard NASA's [[Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy]] (SOFIA) [[Boeing 747SP]], which analyzed the atmospheres of [[Mars]] and [[Saturn]] on an eight-hour, high-altitude mission. She was also a special guest at the [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] in [[Pasadena, California]], on July 17, 1976, to view the ''[[Viking 1]]'' soft landing on Mars. Along with the other cast members from the original ''Star Trek'' series, she attended the [[Ship christening|christening]] of the first space shuttle, ''[[Space Shuttle Enterprise|Enterprise]]'', at the [[North American Rockwell]] assembly facility in Palmdale, California. On July 14, 2010, she toured the space shuttle simulator and Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 14, 2010 |title=Nichelle Nicholls, Star Trek's Uhura, in the Shuttle Simulator at NASA at Houston |url=http://twitpic.com/25brxs |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100719034416/http://twitpic.com/25brxs |archive-date=July 19, 2010 |access-date=August 21, 2019 |website=[[TwitPic]]}}</ref>

Nichols' work with NASA is given significant focus in the documentary ''Woman in Motion'' about her life.<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 5, 2021 |title=Woman in Motion Honors Nichelle Nichols' Contributions to Space Exploration |url=https://www.startrek.com/news/woman-in-motion-honors-nichelle-nichols-contributions-to-space-exploration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624204552/https://www.startrek.com/news/woman-in-motion-honors-nichelle-nichols-contributions-to-space-exploration |archive-date=June 24, 2021 |access-date=June 20, 2021 |website=[[StarTrek.com]]}}</ref>