'Star Trek' icon Nichelle Nichols' ashes to launch into space, son Kyle calls Enterprise mission 'great honor'

foxnews.com:

Nichelle Nichols will rest among the stars when her ashes are launched into deep space later this year on an Enterprise Flight with a few of her late "Star Trek" colleagues.

Nichols, who was known for playing the iconic Lieutenant Nyota Uhura on all three seasons of the original show from 1966-1969, died on July 30.

She was 89.Thursday, Sept. 8, marks the 56th anniversary of the first episode of the show and is now known as "Star Trek Day." Her son, Kyle Johnson, exclusively told Fox News Digital that his mother had been "in pretty good health" before she passed away, and he was "expecting that she would be around a bit longer," so her sudden death threw him in a bit of turmoil.

Nichols boldly went where few had gone before and broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood, and she was an incredible advocate for space flight programs as NASA’s recruiter-in-chief. "Star Trek" legend Nichelle Nichols will make a historic final flight aboard the Enterprise as her ashes will be launched into deep space. (Getty Images) "As I was thinking about it in the aftermath of arrangements and so forth, what would be essentially family and very close friends service," Johnson said. "But there's also her larger base of fans, supporters, those whom she has affected and inspired.