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or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at into History.com. It's May 1966 at a television studio in Los Angeles, California.

33-year-old Michelleichels taps buttons on a complex

looking instrument panel and peers intently at the screen flashing in front of her.

Nishel knows that the buttons don't actually do anything.

The console is just a prop,

but Michelle tries to look busy,

pretending that she's at the controls of a futuristic Starship.

For the last seven years, Nishell has carved out a career as a stage and screen performer.

Most of her roles have been minor, but a few weeks ago,

Michelle got her big break.

She was chosen to play Lieutenant Ujura on a new science fiction show, Star Trek.

But Michelle's casting isn't just a big moment for her. It also marks one of the first times that a black woman has featured in the main cast of an American television show.

Now, Michelle is about to shoot her very first scene.

As the director calls for filming to begin, Michelle puts her finger to her ear as the listening to a transmission.

She looks across the set and delivers her first line on the new show.

Ailing frequencies open, sir.

Michelle takes a breath, but before she can utter her next line,

the director halts filming and the crew hustles onto set.

Michelle looks around in confusion

...