Ashes of ‘Star Trek’ icon Nichelle Nichols blast off into space, Kyle’s son describes Enterprise mission as ‘a great honour’

Nichelle Nichols She will remain among the stars when her ashes are released into deep space later this year aboard an Enterprise flight with a few of her late “Star Trek” mates.

Nichols, who is best known for playing the iconic Lieutenant Nyota Oora in all three seasons original show From 1966-1969, she died on July 30. She was 89 years old. Thursday, September 8, marks the 56th anniversary of the show’s first episode and is now known as “Star Trek Day.”

Her son, Kyle Johnson, told Fox News Digital exclusively that his mother was “well” before her death, and he “expected she’d be around a little longer,” so her sudden death threw him into a bit of turmoil.

Boldly going where few have gone before and breaking barriers for black women in Hollywood, Nichols has been an incredible advocate for spaceflight programs as NASA’s chief recruiting officer.

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“As I’ve been thinking about it in the aftermath of arrangements and so on, what will basically be serving family and very close friends,” Johnson said. “But there’s also her larger base of fans, supporters, and those she’s influenced and inspired. I’ve been trying to think of what might be an appropriate way to acknowledge that.”

He recalled an interesting phone call from a scientist that was like a “thunderbolt from the blue room” and an opportunity he knew his mother wouldn’t want to miss.

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Charles Schafer, CEO and co-founder of Celestis Inc. , honoring Nichols in the most unique way by including her remains in a memorial space flight mission On board an Enterprise flight.

Johnson said just a chance is a “great honour” for his late pioneering mother.

“They will include part of her remains to go on the mission and also her DNA along with my body, which I greatly appreciate,” he said. “I thought there would be no more proper and lasting tribute to her than this mission.”

Kyle Johnson often attended Star Trek conventions with her mother, Nichelle Nichols (seen in 2019). He said her last mission in deep space would be a true honor.
(Gabi Ginsburg)

“I thought there would be no more proper and lasting tribute to her than this mission.”

– Kyle Johnson

Nichols’ remains will be launched later this year aboard a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket, and Nichols’ remains will also be included with the late “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, who died in 1991, his deceased wife and “first lady of Star Trek” “. Magel Barrett Roddenberry, who passed away in 2008.

The remains of the late “Star Trek” actor James Doohan, who played Montgomery “Scottie” Scott, who died in 2005, and visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull, who died in February, will also be included in the mission to revive the unique “star.” reunion trip.

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Celestis has conducted 18 commemorative spaceflights so far and has five more in operation.

They have since put nearly 1,500 people into space, which Schafer said “more than all governments combined.”

Each trip is a unique experience, and the company offers seven different destinations. The suborbital mission “Earth Rise” launches a flight capsule with cremated remains and DNA into space before returning to Earth via a parachute.

Nichelle Nichols (as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura) and William Shatner (as Captain James T. Kirk) are featured in a scene from “The Man Trap,” the first episode of “Star Trek” that aired September 8, 1966.
(CBS photo archive)

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Another option allows a capsule to orbit Earth on satellites or rockets that can orbit anywhere up to 200 years and, depending on the mission’s altitude, might return to Earth’s atmosphere like a shooting star.

Celestis even offers trips to the moon.

“We first went to Moon at NASA Ask their eminent scientist, Dr. Eugene Shoemaker. That flight was in 1999, Schafer said. To date, Shoemaker remains the only person buried on the moon’s surface, a mission undertaken by the Lunar Prospector in honor of Shoemaker’s contributions to planetary science.

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“It’s been a while, but our second mission is coming to an end this year, and we’re going to put 90 people on the moon as a memorial where people can go out at night and look at the moon and say, ‘Hey Pops! “

Nichols and a few of her late Star Trek co-stars will be part of the first deep space mission, which will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, later this year to “permanent orbit around the sun, about 300 million kilometers from Earth”. Schafer referred to her interstellar standing as an “infinite voyage.”

Clockwise from top left: Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy in the TV series “Star Trek” circa 1969.
(CBS photo archive)

“It’s been a while, but our second mission is coming to an end this year, and we’re going to put 90 people on the moon as a memorial where people can go out at night and look at the moon and say, ‘Hey Pops! “

– Charles Schafer, CEO of Celestis, Inc.

An important component of Nichols’ journey has been to involve her fans in her memorialization efforts and to make sure that people who have always been a guiding force in her career have a chance to stay with her forever, too.

Fans around the world can submit their names, tributes, drawings and photos for inclusion in the mission with Nichols for free through Celestis MindFiles, which will be digitized and sent aboard Enterprise Flight.

Schafer added that for every space mission, Celestes donates to two charities that “embodies a commitment to space exploration and Preserve the planets.

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Johnson, who shares his mother’s same passion for interplanetary science, explained how Nichols has invested in science and education for the future.

He noted that early space programs, which severely lacked suitable candidates, were positively influenced by Nichols’ involvement in recruiting new astronauts into the field.

“Its vision sticks to what the show stands for and coincides with what NASA was feeling but didn’t quite know how to implement,” he said. “However, all of a sudden, and I’m sure many of them to this day, are big fans of Star Trek.”

Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek co-star George Takei (pictured in 2015) have worked together on dozens of episodes of the futuristic series.
(Bruce Gilkas/FilmMagic)

Johnson, who will attend the farewell party later this year, will also continue his mother’s legacy of inspiring future generations with the Nichelle Nichols Foundation, which kicks off on December 28 and what would have been her 90th birthday.

“The number of letters, support letters, emails, and phone calls I’ve received over the past 30 days is more valuable than I could ever have imagined,” he said. “The kindness and thoughtfulness of so many people have allowed me to get past this.”

When Johnson was asked if he had any last words to remember his mother, he simply said, “Live long and prosper.”

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