Learn about the types of people who become astronauts. This page goes into detail about the employment, gender, and ethnic ratios of the workplace.
Gender Mix By Career Interest, 2024
This graph shows the distribution of females and males that are interested in becoming an astronaut. Four or five star ratings on CareerExplorer indicate interest.
More men than women are interested in becoming astronauts at a ratio of 2.87 to 1.
Actual Gender Mix, 2024
44% of astronauts are female and 56% are male.
Gender Bias, 2024
This is one of the most compelling statistics we collect. Gender bias shows the difference between gender interest in being an astronaut and the actual gender mix of people in the career.
If there is a significant difference, then it means there is a gender imbalance between those interested in becoming an astronaut and those who end up becoming one.
In this case there are more men interested in becoming an astronaut than those actually working as one. It is hard to pinpoint the exact reasons why, but there are likely various forces at play, from changing interests over time to societal norms and biases.
Ethnic Mix, 2019
The largest ethnic group of astronauts are South Asian, making up 23% of the population. The next highest segments are Other and White, making up 19% and 19% respectively.