Kids' questions / Science
🧑🚀 How much does a astronaut make?
Answer: Neither JAXA nor NASA publishes a job-specific pay table.
Published figures
| Figure | Amount | Reliability | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan JAXA astronaut · average | $60,000 | Government statistics | JAXA staff salary disclosure (varies) |
| US NASA astronaut (GS scale) · roughly | $135,985 | Government statistics | US Office of Personnel Management (2025) |
| US NASA astronaut candidate · roughly | $146,944 | Media estimate | Fortune (news report) (2025) |
- No special pay table for astronauts exists. This shows average pay for all JAXA researchers, about 8.5-9.5 million yen.
- No astronaut-only pay table exists; pay used federal GS grades 11-14, $85,270-$186,700 in Houston. This is the midpoint.
- The 2024-25 astronaut candidate classes use individually set pay instead of GS grades, about $141,888 to $152,000.