Astronauts working at NASA do not receive additional payments despite the high-risk tasks they perform.
According to official information from NASA, the annual salary of an astronaut is approximately 152 thousand dollars. Astronauts of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) have a similar income range.
Astronauts do not receive performance bonuses, extra pay for exceptional working hours, or hazard pay.
Although the salary is standard, all basic needs of astronauts during the mission, such as transportation, accommodation, and food, are covered by the organization.
Despite the financial gain being similar to other high-tech fields (for example, financial analysts), the number of people wanting to become astronauts does not decrease. In NASA's latest selection process, only 10 candidates were chosen out of more than 8,000 applications. This shows that the acceptance rate is very low, around 0.125%.
Requirements to become an astronaut
Although members of the Artemis II crew (Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen) have different backgrounds, they all share a strong academic foundation and extensive experience:
A diploma from an accredited university in engineering, physics, or a similar technical field is mandatory.
Flight experience is not mandatory, but military or civil piloting experience is considered a great advantage.
The role of private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin in space missions, long monopolized by government agencies such as NASA, is increasing. Although SpaceX started a new era in this field by conducting the first commercial manned flight in 2020, the need for highly experienced astronauts remains unchanged in both government and private projects.