How much an astronaut salary?

NASA astronauts are not paid per flight, and there is no bonus for going to space. The civilians among them are ordinary federal employees on the General Schedule, the pay system that covers most of the United States civil service: a grade set by qualifications and experience, annual steps, and the same locality adjustment as any other federal worker in Houston. Astronauts who come from the armed forces, still a large share of every class, are detailed to NASA and keep their military rank, pay and allowances. The number therefore moves with the federal pay tables, not with NASA's budget or with the flight manifest.

Two things surprise people. First, the pay is unremarkable by the standards of those who earn it: a selected candidate is typically a test pilot, a surgeon, an engineer or a research scientist, and many take a cut to join. Second, nothing about the salary scales with risk or mission duration. A six-month stay aboard the International Space Station is paid as ordinary duty, and the incidental expenses claimed for a trip to the Moon in 1969 were filed on a standard government travel voucher, which is why that document ended up in a museum.

The European Space Agency hires its astronauts as staff members on its own international grade structure, with the same salary whether they are training, flying or supporting a mission from the ground. Cosmonauts are salaried state employees. The change is coming from the commercial side: crews flying for private operators are company employees, and the customers who buy seats pay sums that have nothing to do with anyone's salary. Even there, the professional astronaut is on a payroll rather than on a fee.