Nichelle Nichols found fame, and shattered taboos, as Lt Uhura in Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek but used her fame to help NASA. She became an integral part of its daunting task to launch a national blitz for NASA, recruiting 8,000 of the nation's best and brightest, including the trailblazing astronauts who became the first African American, Asian and Latino men and women to fly in space.