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Nichelle Nichols

Astronaut Recruiter

By , About.com Guide

Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura on the original Star Trek series, recruited astronaut candidates for NASA from the late 1970s to the late 1980s.
Nichelle Nichols recruited astronaut candidates

Nichelle Nichols who played Uhura in Star Trek recruited astronaut candidates for NASA in the 1970s and 1980s.

Courtesy NASA
Among the astronauts who were recruited with the help of Nichelle Nichols were Sally K. Ride, the first American woman in space, and Judith A. Resnik, another of the first woman astronauts, as well as African American male astronauts Guion Bluford and Ronald McNair, the first two African American astronauts.

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