‘Star Trek’ was a beacon for space travel – and for diversity – Houston Chronicle

The creator of Star Trek once said humanity must appreciate its own differences before its ready to meet aliens, who will undoubtedly be more diverse than what we find on Earth.

The whole show was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate but to take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms, Gene Roddenberry said in 1976. We tried to say that the worst possible thing that can happen to all of us is for the future to somehow press us into a common mold where we begin to act and talk and look and think alike.

Star Trek and its spinoffs were (and are) about space exploration: to boldly go where no man has gone before. But in many ways, the show sought to inspire a better future. Star Trek: The Original Series aired in the late 60s with characters that included an African American woman, a Russian man and a man of Japanese heritage. One episode became famous for its interracial kiss.

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This representation during the civil rights movement and not long after the Cuban Missile Crisis was ahead of its time.

Roddenberry, who was born in El Paso, died of a heart attack in 1991. He was 70.

Thursday would have been his 100th birthday. To celebrate, NASA used its Deep Space Network of radio antennas to broadcast Roddenberrys 1976 remarks toward star system 40 Eridani, which is home to the planet Vulcan in the Star Trek universe.

NASA also aired a prerecorded virtual discussion where Roddenberrys son Rod Roddenberry, Star Trek actor George Takei (he played Sulu) and a group of NASA employees discussed how Star Trek had inspired them and how the agency could continue advancing the shows vision by improving its diversity.

What Star Trek has always been about, you guys are doing it for real, Rod Roddenberry said. Not just going into space and not just getting people into space. Star Trek was more than just sci-fi. It was about humanitys future.

NASA employee Tracy Drain was raised on sci-fi because her mom used to watch Star Trek with her sisters. Nyota Uhura, the African American character portrayed by actress Nichelle Nichols in Star Trek: The Original Series, looked like one of her moms sisters.

Drain liked the idea of humans exploring different places. At NASA, shes a flight systems engineer for Europa Clipper, designed to travel to Jupiters icy moon, Europa, and investigate whether it could have conditions suitable for life.

Swati Mohan, lead for the guidance, navigation and controls operations on the Mars 2020 mission that sent a rover to the Red Planet, also watched Star Trek as a kid. She enjoyed how each episode took what she knew about the universe and turned it upside down. She realized theres more out there than humanity can comprehend.

However, she said NASA needs diverse mindsets and thoughts to solve some of its biggest challenges. That requires a pipeline of diverse students.

Diversity in the science, technology, engineering and math pipeline is nowhere near as equal as it could be, Mohan said.

Curating a future pipeline thats diverse will require the agency to increase its diversity today, said Hortense Diggs, director of the Office of Communications and Public Engagement at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. She said NASA needs to attract a more diverse workforce now because people are inspired by other people who look like them.

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And its not as if these people dont exist. She said there are people from diverse backgrounds who majored in STEM fields, and there is no excuse for why NASA has been unable to attract them.

For whatever reason, we are not being creative enough to go get them and bring them to us, Diggs said, so that we can then inspire future generations to follow in our steps. Its something that we have to be intentional and work hard and dont give up on doing it.

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim recalled having a picture of the Apollo 11 astronauts over his bed. Yet Kim didnt think he could become an astronaut.

When we dont see someone that we can relate with in the places we want to be or the things that were striving to do, we just dont think about doing it, Kim said. Its just the way it is.

He said NASA strives toward that representation and to do bold things and to do them together.

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Rod Roddenberry described his father as someone who lived intellectually in the future.

Gene Roddenberry could look to the past and consider previous societal faux pas that were acceptable in his present day, his son said. Then he could look to the future and think about what uncomfortable present-day controversies would be acceptable in the next 100 years.

He put white, Black and Asian characters together because, in his future, they would work side by side without any issues.

Regarding todays tensions around issues such as race and sexuality, Rod Roddenberry believes his father would have acknowledged societys improvements and recognized that theres still a long way to go.

He would often say that we are a child species. Were in our adolescence, and when youre kids you always fight and you do dumb things, Rod Roddenberry said. But eventually we are going to grow up, and one day were going to be spectacular.

andrea.leinfelder@chron.com

twitter.com/a_leinfelder

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'Star Trek' was a beacon for space travel - and for diversity - Houston Chronicle