During an IAmA on reddit last week, actor Nichelle Nichols—known to many as Communications Officer Lt. Uhura on the original Star Trek—revealed she's preparing to fly on an official NASA mission at the age of 82. She won't be going into space, however. The television pioneer will instead work with the SOFIA mission, NASA's initiative involving the world's largest airborne observatory.
"SOFIA does not, sadly, fly into space," Nichols told fans during the online Q&A. "It's an airborne observatory, a massive telescope mounted inside a 747 flying as high as is possible. I was on a similar flight, the first airborne observatory, back in 1977. It's an amazing experience, you get a totally different perspective than from Earth. I do hope someone gets some great pictures."
Nichols later clarified on celebrity fundraising site starpower.co that her previous airborne observatory experience was the Keiper Airborne Observatory, "which I also had the honor being able to fly on and even operate the equipment!" She hinted that she's working with NASA to see if there's a way to allow "VIP fans supporting the great causes" on starpower.co to share in the event with her. According to Nichols, the flight will take place in September.
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