HIGH-flying Danielle Hawarden boldly went where no work experience pupil from Bolton School has gone before - all the way to NASA's space centre in Houston.

The 16-year-old from Harwood found herself mingling with astronauts and watching a returning shuttle mission with NASA staff on the week-long work placement.

A-level pupil Danielle was so determined to do her work experience at a space centre she wrote to the European Space Programme and to NASA.

And against the odds, research scientist Dr Ramona Gaza, who is based at NASA's Lyndon B Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, selected Danielle as a work experience student.

Danielle, who plans to go on to study astrophysics at university, stayed at a Houston hotel during her work experience.

She said: "I have always been interested in space so I applied to do work experience at the Johnson Space Centre.

"I was extremely lucky as the first shuttle mission since the Columbia disaster was scheduled to land on the Sunday before my work experience started, but the re-entry was delayed and the shuttle landed during my week."

Danielle joined NASA employees to watch the Discovery Shuttle live on screen as it landed in California. The next day she went to Ellington field, an airbase next to the centre, to watch the astronauts arriving.

She said: "I was able to go to the front of the queue as I was a 'NASA employee'. That was fantastic and I managed to get five of the crew's autographs on the back of my NASA pass."

Danielle also helped in conducting a number of experiments and was allowed into the lunar laboratory, where moon rocks are kept and studied.

She said: "It was a great privilege as even dignitaries do not normally get to go in. It was fun and a great end to the week."

The trip was funded by her family and a grant from the Scott Trust education charity.

Danielle has been invited back to the centre next summer.