How much do NASA people get payed?

College Confidential Community
1

<p>I always thought NASA was pretty cool, but besides going to the Houston spacecenter, I don't know too much about jobs their. I was wondering what the average salary of these people were:</p>

<p>Astronaut
Aerospace engineer
The people that work by the computers tracking the spaceships</p>

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<p>starting would be the same $50-$80K a year.</p>

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<p>A professor that used to work at NASA told me they don't earn much, because they are actually social workers and are living off tax money... I don't know if he was joking or not, but I'm sure most NASA employees work for the spirit rather than the money (every kid wants to be an astronaut)</p>

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<p>The low pay is definitely ok IF you get to be an astronaut. The problem is, the majority of NASA workers are nowhere close to being an astronaut.</p>

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<p>It'd be much better to work in the private sector as an aerospace engineer.</p>

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<p>I know this thread is old, but I need to set the record straight.</p>

<p>Civil servants (not social workers) at NASA are federal government employees and are paid by the same government payscale that all federal government employees are paid, the General Schedule (GS). There are 15 grades, and each grade has 10 steps. You can view this information here: <a href="http://www.opm.gov/oca/08tables/pdf/gs.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.opm.gov/oca/08tables/pdf/gs.pdf&lt;/a> and Federal</a> Government Pay scale.</p>

<p>Starting salary is determined by level of education and credentials. Promotions occur over a person's career. Depending on the background and occupation of the NASA employee, salaries can differ quite a bit.</p>

<p>According to NASA's website (NASA</a> - Astronauts), astronauts are at GS-12 or GS-12. That's a decent amount of money. Whether it's good pay for such high-risk work, that's another question.</p>

<p>NASA hires far more contractors than civil servants. Contractors are paid based on their companies' policies. That information isn't really publicized.</p>

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<p>After about 5 years or so im sure you'll start making money in the 6 figures..but i think there's some kind of cap if you dont go back to school.</p>

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<p>aerospace engineers can make 90k with 8 years exp. from my research. astronauts make 80k. education + experience = more money though. i would work in the private sector.</p>

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<p>i think most people go NASA not because of the money. it's just cool.</p>

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<p>What? I thought we never landed on the moon and space was made in a Hollywood basement.</p>

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<p>aznschoolboi: lol! What supermarket tabloid did you read that in? ;)</p>