Star recruiter

Trekkies know her as Lt. Uhura , communications officer of the U.S. Starship Enterprise. NASA knows her as Nichelle Nichols, space-activist extraordinaire, its handpicked candidate for recruitment of women and minorities into the manned space program.

 In 1977, eight months into NASA's recruitment drive, the agency had received 1,600 applications - fewer than 100 from women and scarcely 35 from minority candidates. With barely four months before the cutoff date, John Yardley, then head of NASA's manned space program, met with Nichols, a visible - and outspoken - advocate of space exploration. Persuaded by Yardley and his staff, Nichols accepted a contract to conduct what she describes as "an outreach blitz. "

 As a result of Nichols' efforts over four months, the space administration received 8,400 applications - 1,649 from women and nearly 1,000 from minorities. Among those applicants were Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, and Philadelphian Guy Bluford, America's first black astronaut, as well as Challenger astronauts Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka and Judith Resnik.

 "It was a very enriching and rewarding experience," recalls Nichols by phone from her home in Los Angeles. The former singer and dancer is catching her breath from the astounding success of her latest mission, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

 "For someone who used to think that the only civilian benefits of the space program were Teflon and Tang, it's funny that I became a NASA missionary," says Nichols with a silky laugh. "Despite my role in Star Trek, it was way after the show was canceled that I thought that I had a role in the space program at all. "

 It was at a Star Trek convention in her home town of Chicago that the impact of the space program hit Nichols at warp speed. "Indirectly I got involved with NASA at the 1975 convention, the first convention that NASA had sent a representative to. He talked (to the audience) about the long-range plans of the space program and the space shuttle, this scientist named Jesco von Puttkamer," she recalls.

 "The moment I heard him speak, I was hooked. He gave a slide talk illustrating the advances NASA scientists were making, inventions that were reshaping our life on Earth. I realized that there was more to NASA than Velcro. Von Puttkamer convinced me that once we had stepped on the moon, we needn't be earthbound again. For the first time, I realized the reality and not the Trekkie fantasy of whole new worlds where man had never gone before. If I couldn't be there physically, I still wanted to be part of it. "

 Despite her initial excitement, says Nichols, who is black, something gave her pause.

 " 'Wait a minute, where are my people? ' I thought. 'And where are the women? '

 "It seemed to me that the manned space program represented America's future, and so far NASA had projected a future where there were only white males. White, male flyboys massaging their egos, I might add. So I asked von Puttkamer, 'Where are the women and minorities? ' "

 NASA answered by inviting Nichols to its Washington headquarters. "I saw women, blacks, browns and yellows working in every level of the agency, from maintenance to management. Except for astronauts," says Nichols.

 On her own, she took a crash course in the space program. "I travel a lot making personal appearances, and every time I was near a NASA installation, I called headquarters to ask if I could visit. And whether it was in Dallas, Huntsville, or San Francisco, the NASA people always laid out the red carpet. "

 She translated her layman's enthusiasm for the space program into articles for Ebony magazine and for the National Space Institute newsletter.

 "Then I noticed during personal appearances that I would talk less and less about Star Trek and increasingly about our responsibilities to the future and to space," Nichols says. "NASA was thrilled to see someone responsible was doing this. For my part, I was thrilled to be aligning Star Trek fantasy with real-life fact. I communicated my passion for space as the last frontier. "

 In 1976, Nichols started a program called Women in Motion, as she describes it "an aerospace education resource. "

 "I addressed students' and women's groups, not as Lt. Uhura , but as Nichelle Nichols, civilian. I successfully conveyed my belief that NASA was the architect of the future, and if there weren't women in that future, it was incumbent upon us to make sure there were. I produced sketches, 'Space Techno-Plays,' dramatizing space research."

 The following year - 1976, the first in which NASA recruited for the space shuttle program - it was looking for scientists and engineers, not only those who had pilot training.

 "NASA wanted women and minorities, but after the first eight months of recruitment, it wasn't satisfied by the comparatively small number of applications they had received," Nichols said. "That's when John Yardley (head of the manned space program) called me in to consult about why they weren't getting response from women and minorities.

 "I replied that women and minorities didn't really believe NASA wanted them. I suggested that they hire someone with visibility and credibility, someone to do outreach, to stress that NASA was looking for a few good women . . . and men. I nominated Bill Cosby, John Denver and Coretta King as personalities who had a 'stop, look and listen' quality about them. "

 And then? "And then John Yardley looked me in the eyes and asked, 'How about Lt. Uhura ? ' "

 Nichols was at first reluctant to accept the invitation. "I thought people might think it was an act of career opportunism," she explains. "But Yardley said, quite simply, 'No one who listens to you can doubt your sincerity. ' How could I say no? "

 Nichols' recruitment methods increased the number of applications from women sixteenfold, from minorities thirtyfold.

 "I devoted myself to nothing else for those four months. I went to universities which had physical science and engineering programs. I scoured the country from Fisk University in Nashville, to Florida A & M in Tallahassee, up to Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y., down to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia - you guys got big potholes there," she scolds in an aside - "to Colorado at Boulder, U. of Nebraska at Lincoln . . . the list is endless.

 "I targeted organizations of chemical engineers, black pilots organizations, women pilots organizations. I went to Indian reservations, and to aerospace companies like Rockwell to encourage (the executives there) to give their best (employees) to their country. "

 Nichols remembers, "I also talked to every newspaper and TV show that would have me, spreading the word to those who weren't in school but who might be qualified. Of course, the media was only interested in Uhura , but they ended up liking - and responding to - Nichelle. I was thrilled because I was making real the Star Trek fantasy. "

 How did NASA compensate Nichols? "I did it pro bono," Nichols says. ''NASA only paid expenses. The real reward was the job itself. "

 NASA formally recognized Nichols' efforts by presenting her with a Distinguished Civil Service Award in 1984. At the ceremony, Judith Resnik delivered the citation praising Nichols for her "outstanding initiative, leadership and accomplishment. "

 "For me," says Nichols with a hearty laugh, "that was much better than getting an Oscar or an Emmy. "

 Even better for Nichols was witnessing the pre-flight preparations of the Challenger, because "the Challenger crew was like Star Trek - one of everything. "

 Asked about the tragic Challenger explosion and the death of its crew on Jan. 28, Nichols' voice breaks. "Those were my people," she says with a quiet sob. "It was devastating. I went into deep mourning. "

 Nichols composes herself, then adds, "Those people who gave their lives knew what they were doing and it would be denigrating to their memory to dismantle the space program. Now more than ever, there's a real danger of losing NASA to the military, which wants to usurp it. It's vital to continue the civilian space program because civilian exploration is by its very nature different from military exploration. You can even see that difference in Star Trek. "

 Since she mentioned it, how does Nichols feel about her latest turn as Lt. Uhura , less of a supporting player this time and more of a star?

 "It was so much fun making the movie that I didn't notice how big my part was and what a departure it was from the previous movies. When I went to the premiere in Portland, Ore., from the roar of the crowd you would think I was Liz Taylor and Diana Ross rolled into one."