NASA SpaceX is about to launch its first human passengers and help NASA resurrect American crewed spaceflight. The test flight, called Demo-2, will fly NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on a space mission that may last up to 110 days. Astronauts' annual salaries are determined using a government pay scale, and starting out, typically fall under two grades: GS-12 and GS-13. According the US government's 2020 pay scales and a NASA job listing, an astronaut in 2020 earns between $66,167 and $161,141 per year. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. The moment that SpaceX founder Elon Musk has dreamed about since 2002 (and possibly long before then) is almost here: the rocket company's first-ever launch of people into space. The commercial mission, called Demo-2, is designed to show NASA that SpaceX's new Crew Dragon spaceship is safe to fly passengers.