Williams & Wilmore: “I’ll pay for their overtime work,” says Trump
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: American astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who returned from the International Space Station (ISS) to Earth this week after being stranded there for over nine months, may have another pleasant surprise: although NASA is reported to have denied them payment for overtime work, US President Donald Trump has offered to pay them out of his “own pocket.”
The two astronauts, who left the planet for a week for the ISS in June 2024, had to overstay until Tuesday because of helium leaks and thruster malfunctions, among other technical glitches, making their Boeing Starliner capsule unsafe to return. Consequently, the spacecraft was sent back to Earth without them in September 2024.
After their return, it turned out that, despite extending their mission by 278 days, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will not pay them for their overtime stay, prompting an offer from President Trump.
He said on Friday that he was unaware the NASA astronauts had not received overtime pay for their prolonged stay aboard the space station. Trump suggested he might personally cover the costs for the astronauts, who are now in isolation, receiving health assistance for recovery.
During a White House press briefing, Trump was informed that despite their entitlement to USD 5 per day, the astronauts had not been compensated for their extended mission. They owe NASA USD 1,430 per person for the delay of 278 days.
“Nobody ever mentioned this to me. If I have to, I will pay it out of my own pocket? OK, I will get it for them,” Trump responded.
“Is that all? That’s not a lot, for what they had to go through,” he added.
Trump also expressed gratitude toward his close aide and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for facilitating the astronauts’ return.
Williams, Wilmore, Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov returned to Earth early Wednesday, landing in the sea off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.
The President acknowledged Musk’s role in ensuring the astronauts’ safe return. “Think of it, if we don’t have him (Musk). You know, there’s only so long — even though they are in the capsule up there — the body starts to deteriorate after nine or 10 months,” Trump said.
“And gets really bad after 14, 15 months with the bones and the blood and all of the things you have been reporting on very well. And, if we don’t have Elon, they could be up there a long time. Who else is going to get them?” he added.
Unlike employees in private-sector jobs, NASA astronauts are federal workers who are paid fixed salaries based on government pay scales. This means they do not receive additional wages for overtime, weekends, or holidays, even when stationed in space. Their time aboard the ISS is classified as “official government travel.”
While NASA covers their transportation, meals, and accommodation, astronauts receive a daily stipend of USD 5 for incidental expenses. With Williams and Wilmore spending a total of 286 days in space, they are set to receive an additional USD 1,430, each, in addition to their base salary, which ranges between USD 94,998 and USD 123,152.
