Allen-Sierpinski said her passion for space exploration started when she was about four, and a “once-in-a-lifetime” holiday to Florida ended up being the launchpad for a lifelong love.
“We did the Disney thing, and we came to the Space Center, and there was the man walking around in an astronaut suit, and I told my mum ‘that’s what I want to do’,” she said.
“She said ‘yeah, OK’, and when I was about 10 I’d still got the bug, so she said, ‘OK, we’ll send you to Space Camp’.
“So I went to Space Camp for a week [and] had a great time.
“I think my mum was hoping that would ruin me on space, but it was the opposite, and from there I started to learn to fly.”
Allen-Sierpinski’s dreams hit a roadblock when she realised there were few university courses in the UK that could help her study space.
After finding a Florida college with the right course, she moved to the US, initially on her own, before her parents packed up life running a pub and flew over in support.
“Being an only child I was missed severely, so they followed,” she said.