Astronaut's

An astronaut's salary is based on the civil service pay scale. Astronauts are ranked between a GS12, which earns $65,140 a year, and a GS13 that earns $100,701 a year.

During an EVA, the outer layer of an astronaut's spacesuit may be 120 degrees C for the side facing the Sun, and the part of that same suit facing away from the Sun could have an external temperature of -100 C.

Experts have long warned that hundreds of thousands of pieces of space debris circling the planet — including an astronaut's lost mirror — pose a threat to functioning satellites and even the International Space Station (ISS).