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Nichelle Nichols at a NASA event in 2012
Photo: Fred Prouser / REUTERS
Nichelle Nichols, best known for playing communications officer Lieutenant Uhura on the TV series Star Trek, has died at the age of 89.
Her son, Kyle Johnson, said Nichols died Saturday in Silver City, New Mexico.
"Last night my mother, Nichelle Nichols, died of natural causes," her son wrote on Nichols' Instagram account.
"However, their light, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from, and be inspired by," Johnson continued.
For her role as Lt.
Uhura in »Star Trek« from 1966 to 1969, they were adored by fans of the series.
She also received wide recognition for breaking with stereotypes that had largely confined black women to roles as servants.
Nichols often recalled that Martin Luther King Jr. was a fan of the series and praised her role.
She met him at a civil rights event in 1967 when she had decided not to return for the show's second season.
In a 2008 interview, she recounted her encounter with King: "When I told him I was going to miss my colleagues and was leaving the show, he got very serious and said, 'You can't do that.
You changed the face of television forever, and with it the way people think.'
King was like a bolt of lightning in my life," Nichols said.
The actress also served as NASA's recruiting officer for many years, helping bring minorities and women into the astronaut corps.
More recently, she had a recurring role on the television series Heroes, playing the great-aunt of a young boy with mystical powers.
ktz/AP/Reuters