How much do astronauts earn?

Flying to space isn't paid like a sporting feat. In the United States, NASA's civilian astronauts join as federal employees and are paid according to the General Schedule, the same scale that governs the rest of the federal government. Candidate vacancy announcements are posted at the GS-13 and GS-14 levels, whose 2024 pay bands ranged from approximately $86,000 to $134,000 per year before locality adjustments (as of January 2024). Salary depends on grade and seniority within it, not on the number of missions flown.

Astronauts who come from the armed forces remain in their military status: NASA does not pay them an additional salary; instead they keep the pay, rank and benefits of their service branch while assigned to the Johnson Space Center.

A persistent myth holds that there are bonuses for each day spent in space. In practice, long-duration stays aboard the International Space Station are treated as an official assignment and do not generate significant extra pay; astronauts receive their salary while orbiting just as they would while training in Houston or Cologne.

In Europe the scheme is similar. European Space Agency astronauts are agency staff and fall into grades A2 to A4 of the coordinated remuneration system used by European international organizations, with pay set by grade and seniority. Agencies often note that the appeal of the profession isn't the paycheck: competition is extreme—tens of thousands of applications for a dozen openings—and selection requires several years of prior training before the first flight.