Space travel enthusiast, Maya Robinson from Whitehaven has had the trip of a lifetime.

The youngster visited the home of Richard Branson’s space travel giant, Virgin Galactic in California.

Maya, eight, a pupil at Bransty Primary School, was invited to the Virgin Galactic space port in the Mojave Desert thanks to her love of all things space and aspiration to be involved in the space travel industry.

In the summer, Maya was given a tour of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic Space Port in California, a screening of the Apollo 11 movie in IMAX and a photograph with a real space rocket.

Maya was inspired by the women that she met on her tour of Virgin Galactic. One of her prized possessions is a ‘Women in Space’ book.

This has been signed by real engineers and scientists from Virgin Galactic including Kelly Latimer and Beth Moses. Some of the women who signed her book are featured in it.

Peggy Whitson, a famous astronaut who spent over a year in space signed the book telling Maya to “dream big".

Maya’s dad Wesley added: “We will encourage whatever she wants to do and she is space mad.”