This 1977 NASA Recruitment Video Is Still Holding Up

Fans of Star Trek will remember Nichelle Nichols, aka Lieutenant Uhura. A pivotal character on the 1960’s TV show. Uhura was a translator and communications officer who specializes in linguistics, cryptography, and philology aboard the Starship Enterprise.

Her character was one of the first that portrayed an African American in a non-menial role. After Star Trek was canceled Nichols volunteered to help NASA recruit women and minorities to the agency.

This incredible ad from 1977 shows Nichols at the Johnson Space Centre where she describes the NASA space shuttle, Enterprise and the agency’s plans for further space exploration. In the ad designed to encourage women to apply to the agency in a variety of roles, Nichols walks through the campus with astronaut Alan Bean.

The ad worked, according to Wikipedia among the women recruited around this time was Dr. Sally Ride, the first American female astronaut. The United States Air Force Colonel Guion Bluford, the first African-American astronaut also came on board at this time, as well as Dr. Judith Resnik and Dr. Ronald McNair, who both flew successful missions during the Space Shuttle program before their unfortunate deaths in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986.

NASA is still determined to recruit women according to their website “NASA is committed to recruiting and retaining women in STEM to help the agency continue to push boundaries to achieve the impossible.”

If Lieutenant Uhura inspired you then head over to the NASA careers page to find your fit.