“I’m speaking to the whole family of humankind, minorities and women alike. If you qualify and would like to be an astronaut, now is the time. This is your NASA, a space agency embarked on a mission to improve the quality of life on planet Earth right now” — Nichelle Nichols, in a 1977 NASA recruitment film about the building of the Space Shuttle.
Nichelle Nichols was beloved and important for many reasons, and her career broke some serious ground. It was a career of firsts. Her dedication to NASA and space-exploration was admirable, as was her explicit encouragement to those who might feel like “NASA wouldn’t hire someone like me”. Her efforts on this front made a huge difference. A palpable difference.
This might be a good time to remember – or learn if you didn’t know already – that NASA de-segregated its offices/campuses/bathrooms ahead of the country at large. Bureaucracies are unwieldy and conservative and slow to change. NASA, however, just went ahead and did it, overnight. They didn’t ask for permission, or lobby for change, or hold a forum, or ask employees what they thought or preferred. With a swipe of a pen, it was done. This openness to the New – the embrace of the New – should not be surprising in an organization that was shooting men up into orbit in what were basically tin-cans. But still: it’s a good thing to keep in mind. Nichols recognized this too. Hers was a collaboration with NASA. She wasn’t a “spokesmodel”.
I imagine it’s not easy – and also kind of a bummer sometimes – to be a “symbolic” person, to play a “symbolic” role, to have a “symbolic” career. Nichols was fully aware of it – and was far-seeing in how she used her symbolic role to hold out a hand to others.
Here’s Nichelle Nichols’ NASA film:
RIP, bold pioneer.
Rest in Power, Queen.