The groundbreaking casting of Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura in 1966 took women and people of color into a newly imagined future. But it was the 1960s and she had to do it in a miniskirt.

Since then, each Star Trek show has both reflected the values of its time and imagined a future in which all genders were equal. In her first book, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine star Nana Visitor sets out to discover both how Star Trek led the way for women, and how it was trapped in its own era.

For Visitor, this is more than a book about Star Trek. It’s about how society and the stories we tell have evolved in the last 60 years, and how the role of women has changed in that time.

STAR AUTHOR: Written by Star Trek actor Nana Visitor, famous for playing Major Kira Nerys. This is both her story and her journey through the stories of other women involved with Star Trek from the 1960s to the 21st century.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS: Features interviews with more than a dozen women who starred in Star Trek, including Kate Mulgrew, Terry Farrell, Denise Crosby, Tawny Newsome, and Sonequa Martin-Green.

INSPIRING STORIES: Explore how Star Trek has influenced women in the real world, including soldiers, scientists, and even astronauts. For the book, author Nana Visitor visited ESA HQ and interviewed astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti while she was in orbit around Earth on the International Space Station.

PIONEERING SERIES: Star Trek has often taken a leading role in promoting women on both sides of the camera. It featured women writers when they were rare, and it introduced female captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager in 1995.