Re: What is the differences and similarities between astronomers and astronauts

Hi Julie,

Astronomers are scientists who study the universe and the objects in it. This answer tells a bit about what astronomers do; try searching our site for more info. Astronomers can be "amateurs" (people who study the sky for fun), or "professionals" (people who get paid for studying the sky, although most professionals think astronomy is fun too!)

Astronauts can be scientists, doctors, engineers or pilots. They fly to space to do things like perform experiments, launch and repair satellites. For information about the US astronaut program, see this webpage. Since it's pretty hard to go into space on your own, there aren't really any "amateur" astronauts, although a couple of people have paid lots of money to go into space.

Some astronauts trained to be professional astronomers before they became astronauts. Probably more astronauts are also amateur astronomers. But only a tiny number of astronomers are astronauts. The rest of us have to study the universe from the ground or from satellite data without leaving the Earth. There are a lot more astronomers than astronauts: around 10000 astronomers in the world, and (I am guessing) less than 500 astronauts who have ever gone into space. Being an astronaut is a lot more dangerous than being an astronomer, since space travel has a lot of things that can go wrong.

Astronomers and astronauts have many things in common. Both groups are interested in science and finding out about the universe. They have to study some of the same things in school, like physics and math. Both astronomers and astronauts spend a lot of time using computers. Their jobs often require working with groups of people, and travelling to far-away places. I don't know this for sure, but I think astronauts probably get paid about the same as astronomers. Both jobs are pretty cool (at least I think so)!

Pauline