President Donald Trump has offered to pay overtime to the NASA astronauts who were stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) for nine months on what should have been an eight-day mission.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were in space from June 2024 until March 2025. Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore, 62, and Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams, 59, initially set out last June for what was meant to be an eight-day test flight aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
However, due to persistent technical setbacks, the mission stretched into an unexpected 286-day stay in orbit before they finally returned to Earth on March 19 aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
With their return, the astronauts now rank as the sixth longest-serving NASA crew members for a single mission, spending nearly 285 days in space.
However, the amount the pair likely made for the 278 unplanned extra days they spent in space left people stunned.
Wilmore and Williams alongside Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov and NASA astronaut Nick Hague on their return journey to Earth. Credit: Keegan Barber/NASA via Getty Images
According to former astronaut Cady Coleman, NASA astronauts receive incidental pay, similar to federal workers on a business trip.
Coleman revealed to The Washingtonian that she earned about $4 per day during her own 2010 mission.
Though the exact rate for astronauts in space today is unclear, the federal travel allowance currently sits at $178 per day – which could significantly impact their compensation, per The New York Post.
Based on her experience of earning $636 during a 159-day mission, Wilmore and Williams might receive approximately $1,148 each for their unplanned stay.
However, if NASA applies the full $178 daily travel rate, that number jumps to over $51,000 per astronaut.
Wilmore and Williams are classified under the GS-15 pay scale, which places their annual salaries between $125,000 and $163,000.
Trump has offered to pay the astronauts out of his own pocket. Credit: Andrew Harnik / Getty
Their earnings could be topped up by President Trump, who offered to pay the pair out of his own pocket after Fox News’ Peter Doocy revealed that NASA had agreed to cover just $5 per day in incidentals dispute the lengthy mission.
President Trump responded: “If I have to, I’ll pay it out of my own pocket,” adding: “Nobody ever mentioned this to me.
“Is that all? That’s not a lot, for what they had to go through.”
A NASA spokesperson previously told the New York Times that the astronauts’ mission is essentially categorized as an extended business trip as they are “on official travel orders as federal employees”.
After the crew finally splashed down on Earth, President Trump reflected on what the pair had been through in the nine months they were in space.
He explained: “Even though they’re in the capsule up there, the body starts to deteriorate after nine or 10 months and gets really bad after 14,15 months, with the bones and the blood and all of the things that you’ve been reporting on very well.
“And if we don’t have Elon [Musk], they could be up there a long time.”
