Also called: Private Astronaut Pilot
Flies or crews private spacecraft for companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and Axiom.
You train in a capsule simulator for months, rehearse emergencies with your crew, and then command a flight carrying paying customers or researchers. Most come from military test pilot or NASA backgrounds.
Very few jobs; pay is not publicly reported.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in STEM plus elite pilot or astronaut experience.
Ways in: 4-year college, Military, On-the-job training. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering.
Growing faster than average. Tiny but growing with commercial stations.
Low risk for 10 years. Spacecraft fly largely on autopilot, but commercial flights still want trained human crews; jobs are few and elite.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Calculus, Physical education, Computer science.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.