LEILA FADEL, HOST:
NPR is celebrating 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We've been exploring culture, history and objects from those 250 years in our series "America In Pursuit." The founders kicked off a quest for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports on another quest - to boldly go where no one has gone before.
JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: Generations of Americans will recognize this.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES")
WILLIAM SHATNER: (As Captain Kirk) Space - the final frontier.
LUDDEN: The opening to "Star Trek" as the USS Enterprise glides through the universe. Today you can see that original starship from 1966 in the lobby of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum - a light-gray saucer with two engines,11 feet long.
MARGARET WEITEKAMP: Mostly made of wood, actually, painted.
LUDDEN: But only decorated on the one side that ever faced the camera, says curator Margaret Weitekamp. Upstairs in her office, she explains that after the UFOs and pointy rockets that came before, this design was revolutionary.
WEITEKAMP: Immediately, you can see this is a populated ship for a long-term spaceflight with a very large crew.
LUDDEN: Weitekamp says "Star Trek" evoked Americans' sense of themselves as frontiersmen. And it spoke to the civil rights and women's movements roiling the country.
WEITEKAMP: This was a show that imagined an integrated crew of men and women of different races, and even a half-alien, going out and exploring the universe together.
LUDDEN: This science fiction had real-world influence. African American actress Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura, had decided to leave the show for Broadway until a fan, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., told her his family loved watching "Star Trek" for its groundbreaking diversity.
WEITEKAMP: And he said, who knows how long it'll be before that door opens again if you allow it to close?
LUDDEN: The first African American woman to go into space, Mae Jemison, said the show inspired her. "Star Trek's" utopian vision of humanity spawned a franchise that has lived long and prospered and global fandom for this piece of the American imagination.
Jennifer Ludden, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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