10 Times Star Trek Changed The World

Little characterises better the spirit of the second half of the 20th century than the technological and cultural drives of the Space Age. Star Trek was born in, and guided by, the heady atmosphere of the cold-war Space Race. Later, however, during the Space Shuttle programme, it was Star Trek that would move the cultural markers and change the way we think about spaceflight.

When NASA announced the name of its first space shuttle, Constitution, in 1976, Star Trek fans began a letter writing campaign to have it changed to Enterprise. Then President Gerald Ford agreed, and Gene Roddenberry and the cast attended the rollout to the fanfare of the TOS theme.

Later, in 1977, NASA hired Nichelle Nichols (already on the board of directors of the National Space Institute) to head a recruitment campaign for women and minorities for the Space Shuttle program. They needed her, and they needed Uhura. Applications skyrocketed.

Before Nichols started, NASA had received 1,500 applications in general over an 8-month period, of which fewer than 100 were from women, and only 35 from minorities. After six months, Nichols had brought in 8,000 applications: 1,649 from women, and over 1,000 from minorities. In June 1983, the first American woman went into space, and in August of the same year the first African American did so too as a direct result of Nichols’ efforts.

Nichols would continue her close collaboration with NASA throughout her life. She and Uhura inspired countless astronauts including Dr Mae Jemison, the first real life astronaut to appear on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

To finish on a quote from Nichols, speaking about her involvement in the Space Shuttle Programme in the documentary Women In Motion:

I knew the world would never be the same again; we would go on to great heights. And to think that I had the slightest thing to do with it makes me know that all good things are possible.