Following the U.S.S. Starship Enterprise's motto, to boldly go where no man has gone before, Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played Lieutenant Nyota Uhura in the original 1960s series, has recently announced she'll be part of her second "Star Trek" NASA mission later this year, at 82 years of age!

While Ms. Nichols won't be actually heading into space but rather an airborne observatory, the "Star Trek" NASA alliance is still one for the books, although it's not the first time the actress follows the lead of her most famous character, as she went on a similar mission in 1977.

According to Raw Story, the latest "Star Trek" NASA revelation was made right before the start of Nichols' recent Ask Me Anything session on Reddit, as she told her fans that she'd be going to the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) to be part of the crew in a few weeks time.

"It's an airborne observatory, a massive telescope mounted inside a 747 flying as high as is possible," the actress explained of the "Star Trek" NASA mission, according to ABC News. "SOFIA does not, sadly, fly into space. It's an airborne observatory, a massive telescope mounted inside a 747 flying as high as is possible. I was on a similar flight, the first airborne observatory, back in 1977. It's an amazing experience, you get a totally different perspective than from earth," she wrote. I do hope someone gets some great pictures."

This new "Star Trek" NASA mission is impressive not only on account of how amazing it is for someone from one of the most famous sci-fi icons of all time is getting so close to space, but because, as People Magazine reports, this comes only a few months after Nichols suffered a minor stroke earlier this summer, though she's obviously all right now.

The "Star Trek" NASA mission will be taking off on September 15.