Matt Bird writes all sorts of nonsense, but he dedicates a large chunk of his time to writing game walkthroughs.

To infinity, and beyond! Or something that isn’t copyright infringement! The Astronauts of The Sims 4 are the world’s pioneers, stretching out into a new frontier and testing the limits of human ingenuity. They are, in a real sense, the cutting edge of what simkind can accomplish—and that, in this case, is probably getting into a bunch of shenanigans with weird aliens. But, hey, they’re making a bunch of money in the process, so why complain?

Aspirations and Traits

Astronauts is a little ambiguous when it comes to Aspirations, though either Athletic—Bodybuilder or Knowledge—Renaissance Sim (or the other two Knowledge categories, if you want) can find a place amongst these deep space dwellers. Traits that work well for Astronauts include:

• Active
• Genius
• Bookworm
• Mean and / or Evil (for the Interstellar Smuggler branch)

Astronaut Tiers

What follows is a list of tiers associated with the Astronaut career path. You can’t create a sim that is both Space Ranger and Interstellar Smuggler at different points in their life, so if you want to see both you’ll have to send two different sims up in rockets.

• Ideal Mood: Focused
• Daily Task: Work Out (Jogging or any exercise machine); Space Mission (Space Ranger and Interstellar Smuggler)

Level 1: Intern

• Wage: $26 / hour
• Time: 8:00 am–5:00 pm
• Days: Monday–Friday
• Bonus: None

To move to the next level your sim needs to Enthuse about Space, a Friendly interaction, with three other sims. Depending on the size of your household, your sim may be able to do this without even leaving their house.

Level 2: Module Cleaner

• Wage: $34 / hour
• Time: 12:00 pm–9:00 pm
• Days: Monday–Friday
• Bonus: $581, Astro Solar System Light

To jump to level three your sim must reach level two of the Logic skill. You can do this, at its cheapest, via a chess board. Books can also bump your sim up to level two or more, as well as using microscopes or telescopes.

Level 3: Technician

• Wage: $54 / hour
• Time: 1:00 pm–9:00 pm
• Days: Tuesday–Friday
• Bonus: $756, Astro Model Rocket, Point Out Constellations interaction

To hit level four your newly-born Technician must continue the Logic climb to level three, as well as make four friends. You can sort of do both by playing chess with people at a park.

Level 4: Command Center Lead

• Wage: $71 / hour
• Time: 2:00 pm–10:00 pm
• Days: Monday–Wednesday, Friday
• Bonus: $869, Star Seeker Original Blueprints, Track Satellites on telescopes

To reach level five your sim must reach level two of the Fitness skill—which they’ll more than do, since the other prerequisites is working out on a weight machine for four hours. If you don’t want to buy your own weight machine, head to a gym.

Level 5: Low-Orbit Specialist

• Wage: $96 / hour
• Time: 8:00 am–5:00 pm
• Days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
• Bonus: $1,130, Portable Galaxy Lightshow

To reach the next level is astronautics your sim must reach level three in Fitness and win two chess games against other sims. A high Logic score will help your sims with the chess; Fitness is just a matter of time.

Level 6: Space Cadet

• Wage: $104 / hour
• Time: 6:00 am–4:00 pm
• Days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
• Bonus: $1,299, Mission Control

To hit the next level your sim needs to reach level four in Logic and level five in Fitness. Your sim needs to run on a treadmill for twelve hours as one final requirement, so hitting level five in Fitness, at least, should not be difficult at all.

Level 7: Astronaut

• Wage: $119 / hour
• Time: 8:00 am–6:00 pm
• Days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
• Bonus: $1,689, Salyut Aeronaut Chair, New CAS parts

Jumping to the next level requires levelling Logic and Fitness to six apiece. Not too bad. Your sim also needs to get the Starry Night Moodlet by using the Point Out Constellation conversation option. Your two sims need to be outside at night for this option to appear.

From here your career branches in two different directions:

Branch 1: Space Ranger

Level 8: Planet Patrol

• Wage: $179 / hour
• Time: 10:00 am–6:00 pm
• Days: Monday–Thursday
• Bonus: $1,790, Build Your Own Rocket Kit, Space Energy Drink recipe

To reach the second level of Space Ranger your sim must reach level five in the Charisma skill, have at least seven friends, and drink the Space Energy Drink they just learned to create. Charisma can be accumulated while making friends, using Friendly conversation options; the Space Energy Drink can be created at a bar with no real experience in Mixology. Huzzah!

Level 9: Sheriff of the Stars

• Wage: $297 / hour
• Time: 10:00 am–5:00 pm
• Days: Monday–Thursday
• Bonus: $3,149, Astro-Bunny Beyond Infinity

To reach the final level of this branch of astronautics your sim must reach level seven in the Charisma and Fitness skills, as well as Write a Book. The first two prerequisites are a piece of cake; the third will force your sim to dip into the Writing skill, though they can Write a Book from the moment they sit down in front of a computer.

Level 10: Space Ranger

• Wage: $422 / hour
• Time: 10:00 am–5:00 pm
• Days: Monday–Thursday
• Bonus: $4,567, Apollo Rocketship, new CAS parts

Branch 2: Interstellar Smuggler

Level 8: Moon Mercenary

• Wage: $201 / hour
• Time: 4:00 pm–12:00 am
• Days: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Saturday
• Bonus: $1,790, The Monolith, Alien Juice Drink recipe

For shame. To reach the next level of Interstellar Smuggler your sim must reach level three in the Mischief and Programming skills, as well as earn $1,000 from Hacking. Mischief can be earned by using Mischief conversation options while socializing; Hacking can only be done by learning the Programming skill. You need to raise Programming to level two for Hack to appear as an option on computers.

Level 9: Alien Goods Trader

• Wage: $299
• Time: 4:00 pm–11:00 pm
• Days: Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Saturday
• Bonus: $3,865, Zero-G Training Bag

You’ve almost reached the heights of infamy. To rise to Astronaut’s final level your sim will need to raise the Mischief skill to level five and the Fitness skill to level eight. You also need to collect three Space Rocks, which, for the most part, you can only obtain by sending your Astronaut into space via a rocket. This may take a while.

Level 10: Interstellar Smuggler

• Wage: $413 / hour
• Time: 2:00 pm–11:00 pm
• Days: Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Saturday
• Bonus: $5,025, Retro Rocketship