Astronauts do get paid just like people do at other jobs.
Being an astronaut is a paid job but it's not a job for everyone.
The average pay for an astronaut is around $152,258.00 a year although the actual salary and pay of an astronaut will also depend on the astronauts experience, their employer, which could be military or NASA and the astronauts pay grade.
Although astronauts are also generally compensated as government employees or military personnel.
NASA astronauts are often either military officers or civil servants and their pay is also aligned with these classifications.
Civilian astronauts who are employed by NASA are paid according to the General Service or GS pay scale, often within the GS-13 to GS-14 range.
Civilian astronauts salaries can range from $81,216.00 a year to as much as $161,141.00 per year, and there's also potential for increases in salary for performance and experience.
Military astronauts are paid according to their military rank and their years of service.
And astronauts do not usually receive any overtime pay, even during their extended missions, as they are also treated like other federal employees on official travel orders.
And although it's not overtime, astronauts ma also receive a small daily allowance for incidentals while they are in space such as $5.00 per day.