So, have you heard about Sarah Gillis? She’s one of the two female astronauts who made history by flying further into space than any woman has before! She was part of the Polaris Dawn mission, which launched on September 10, 2024, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. That’s a pretty huge deal!
Not only did she make that milestone, but she also completed the first-ever spacewalk as a non-professional astronaut! Oh, and she’s only 30. That’s crazy, right?
But, How Much Does Sarah Gillis Make?
Well, Sarah hasn’t straight-up said what her net worth is, but let’s be real—it’s probably a lot. She’s been working at SpaceX since 2015, and with the roles she’s had, you know she’s making bank.
Her SpaceX Career
Sarah started as a Crew Operations Intern at SpaceX back in January 2015 and then moved up to Space Operations Engineer in 2017. The average salary for that job is around $113K a year. That’s already a pretty sweet paycheck, but it didn’t stop there!
By 2020, she became the Lead Space Operations Engineer, which usually pays about $150K per year. That’s some serious cash right there.
Now, as of May 2022, Sarah is a Senior Space Operations Engineer. According to Glassdoor, people in that position at SpaceX make between $168K and $232K annually, with the average being $196K. And that’s just salary—we’re not even talking bonuses, stock options, or any extra perks. So yeah, she’s definitely earning a lot!
What About Her Net Worth?
Even though she hasn’t shared her exact net worth, with her big salary, it’s safe to say she’s doing pretty well. She’s probably got a lot stashed away, and with all her accomplishments, her income’s likely only going up from here.
Before SpaceX
Before landing her job at SpaceX, Sarah worked with other companies too. She interned at Sierra Nevada Corporation back in 2014. And, believe it or not, she even worked as a barista at The Laughing Goat café and as a gardener at The Center for Resource Conservation. It’s cool to see how she started out small before making it big in the space industry!
A Little About Sarah’s Life
Sarah was born in Palo Alto, California, in 1994, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado, in a family full of artists and musicians. Her mom was a professional violinist, and Sarah was raised to be a musician too. But, she ended up going in a totally different direction.
After attending a lecture by a former NASA astronaut, Joe Tanner, in high school, Sarah got inspired to pursue aerospace engineering. He even became her mentor and pushed her to follow that path.
Sarah went on to attend the University of Colorado Boulder, where she earned degrees in Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical Engineering. Oh, and fun fact: she’s married to Lewis Gillis, who also works at SpaceX. They met while they were students at CU Boulder. Pretty sweet, huh?
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