Promoted content: Lockheed Martin's Preeya Lakhani to talk about a career in space at FIA2024

When Preeya Lakhani was just four-years-old, she was fascinated by a DVD which was given out for free with a UK Sunday newspaper. The disc offered the user the opportunity to explore the planets, and Preeya and her dad loaded it into their old computer. Neither of them realised what an important moment this would be, but as Preeya watched the universe unfold before her, it unleashed a passion for space that has never gone away. “Even at that age, I remember just being fascinated by it,” said Preeya.

It started a life long love affair with space – and created a desire in the-then youngster to be involved.

Trips to Farnborough Air Show with her father continued to grow the fascination of how things worked and, adds Preeya with a smile, so was an obsession with tv show, Star Trek Voyager and Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew). “She was a woman who knew her stuff and was a leader, and I thought that’s what I wanted to be,” said Preeya.