NASA Astronaut Corps Center in Houston, although members may be assigned to other locations based on mission requirements, e.g. Soyuz training at Star City, Russia. The Chief of the Astronaut Office is the most senior leadership position for active astronauts in the Corps. The Chief Astronaut serves as head of the Corps and is the principal adviser to the NASA Administrator on astronaut training and operations. The first Chief Astronaut was Deke Slayton, appointed in 1962. The current Chief Astronaut is Patrick Forrester. Salaries for newly hired civilian astronauts are based on the federal government's General Schedule pay scale for grades GS-11 through
Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language government of China: Nicaragua and Paraguay. Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language The Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language (TOCFL) (formerly known as the TOP or Test Of Proficiency-Huayu )() is Taiwan's Mandarin Chinese test. It is administered by the Steering Committee for the Test Of Proficiency-Huayu (SC-TOP) (). The committee is under the direction of the Ministry of Education of R.O.C. The test cannot be taken in Mainland China, Hong Kong or Macao. In these three areas, only the HSK exam can be taken. Conversely, HSK is not available on Taiwan, Kinmen or any of the territories