According to her blog, Nichelle Nichols -- known for her role as Lt. Uhura in “Star Trek: The Original Series” -- will be among the first non-essential personnel to use NASA's newest telescope, SOFIA.

"I am honored to say that I will be among the first non-essential personnel to experience NASA’s newest telescope: SOFIA," she wrote. "On September 15th, I’ll board a special 747 with a very specially built telescope integrated into the fuselage, taking off at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center near Palmdale, California."

She added, "SOFIA is actually a second generation Airport Observatory. The first generation was the Keiper Airborne Observatory, flown in the mid 1970’s, which I also had the honor being able to fly on, and even operate the equipment!"

Nichols hopes to share the experience with her fans through StarPower. She is currently working with NASA in order to make that possible. More information about NASA's SOFIA mission is available on their website.