Golden Kubestronaut Study Guide¶

Personal study guide and exam preparation resources for the CNCF Golden Kubestronaut certification path — all 16 CNCF certifications.

What is Golden Kubestronaut?¶

The Kubestronaut program recognizes individuals who hold all five core Kubernetes certifications (KCNA, KCSA, CKA, CKAD, CKS) simultaneously. The Golden Kubestronaut takes this further by requiring all 16 CNCF certifications to be active at the same time, covering the full breadth of the cloud native ecosystem.

Benefits include an exclusive jacket, discount coupons for recertification, KubeCon event discounts, and recognition in the CNCF community.

Certification Path¶

The 5 core Kubestronaut certifications plus the 11 additional certifications required for Golden Kubestronaut:

graph TB
    subgraph kubestronaut ["Kubestronaut (5 core certs)"]
        KCNA --> CKA --> CKAD
        KCNA --> KCSA --> CKS
        CKA --> CKS
    end

    subgraph additional ["Golden Kubestronaut (+11)"]
        PCA["PCA<br/>Prometheus"]
        ICA["ICA<br/>Istio"]
        CCA["CCA<br/>Cilium"]
        CAPA["CAPA<br/>Argo"]
        CGOA["CGOA<br/>GitOps"]
        CBA["CBA<br/>Backstage"]
        OTCA["OTCA<br/>OpenTelemetry"]
        KCA["KCA<br/>Kyverno"]
        CNPA["CNPA<br/>Platform"]
        CNPE["CNPE<br/>Platform Eng."]
        LFCS["LFCS<br/>Linux Sysadmin"]
    end

    kubestronaut --> additional

Timing

All 16 certifications must be active simultaneously (each valid for 2-3 years depending on the cert). Plan your schedule carefully so earlier certs don't expire before completing the remaining ones.

Certification Overview¶

Kubestronaut (Core 5)¶

Certification	Type	Duration	Passing Score	Cost	Prerequisite
KCNA	Multiple Choice	90 min	75%	$250	None
KCSA	Multiple Choice	90 min	75%	$250	None
CKA	Performance-based	2 hours	66%	$445	None
CKAD	Performance-based	2 hours	66%	$445	None
CKS	Performance-based	2 hours	67%	$445	Active CKA

Golden Kubestronaut (+11 Certifications)¶

Certification	Type	Duration	Passing Score	Cost	Prerequisite
PCA	Multiple Choice	90 min	75%	$250	None
ICA	Performance-based	2 hours	68%	$250	None
CCA	Multiple Choice	90 min	75%	$250	None
CAPA	Multiple Choice	90 min	75%	$250	None
CGOA	Multiple Choice	90 min	75%	$250	None
CBA	Multiple Choice	90 min	75%	$250	None
OTCA	Multiple Choice	90 min	75%	$250	None
KCA	Multiple Choice	90 min	75%	$250	None
CNPA	Multiple Choice	120 min	75%	$250	None
CNPE	Performance-based	2 hours	64%	$445	None
LFCS	Performance-based	2 hours	67%	$445	None

Golden Kubestronaut Bundle

The Golden Kubestronaut Bundle includes all 16 exams at a discount. Also look for Linux Foundation discount codes (30-55% off) during sales events like CyberMonday and KubeCon.

Exam Environment (Performance-based)¶

The CKA, CKAD, CKS, ICA, CNPE, and LFCS exams are hands-on, command-line based exams in a browser terminal. Key rules:

Access to specific official documentation is allowed (varies by exam)
One additional browser tab is permitted for docs
No personal notes, bookmarks, or other resources
killer.sh simulator sessions are included with exam purchase (2 sessions, 36h each)
PSI Secure Browser is required for proctoring

Exam Simulator¶

Test your knowledge with the built-in Exam Simulator — practice questions across all certifications with exam mode (timed, pass/fail scoring), progress tracking, and a question browser.

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