Earlier this week, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who had been aboard the Worldwide Area Station since June 2024, safely returned to earth with assist from Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Regardless of being stranded by the Biden Administration for 9 months as an alternative of the 8 days they have been supposed to remain, the 2 astronauts is not going to get time beyond regulation pay, one thing that President Trump made clear on Friday in remarks to the press.
Regardless of being caught in area for 278 days longer than initially anticipated, Wilmore and Williams didn’t obtain time beyond regulation pay, a NASA spokesperson instructed Newsweek.
Normal process is that astronauts obtain common, 40-hour workweek salaries after they’re aboard the ISS. This doesn’t embody any time beyond regulation or vacation pay.
However astronauts do obtain incidental pay of $5 for every day they spend in area. Since Wilmore and Williams spent 286 days in area, this quantities to $1,430 in incidental pay for every astronaut.
On Friday, throughout remarks to reporters, President Trump was requested in regards to the challenge of time beyond regulation for the stranded duo.
A reporter requested, “The 2 astronauts that you just simply helped save from area, they didn’t get any time beyond regulation pay for all that additional time. They get $5 a day per diem for 286 days.”
“That’s $1430 in additional pay. Is there something the administration can do to get them…to make them complete?”
President Trump responded, “Effectively, no one’s ever talked about this to me. If I’ve to, I’ll pay it out of my very own pocket.”
“Okay? I’ll get it for them.”
President Trump additionally took the chance to thank Elon Musk for his work to rescue Wilmore and Williams.
“I wish to thank Elon Musk, by the best way, as a result of, assume if we don’t have him. You realize there’s solely so lengthy, despite the fact that they’re within the capsule up there…the physique begins to deteriorate after 9 or ten months. And it will get actually dangerous after 14, 15 months with the bones and the blood and the entire issues you may have been reporting on very well.”
“And if we don’t have Elon, they could possibly be up there a very long time. Who else goes to get them? And I simply wish to thank him.”
Watch:
REPORTER: The 2 astronauts that you just simply helped save from area, they didn’t get any time beyond regulation pay…@POTUS: “If I’ve to, I’ll pay it out of my very own pocket… and I wish to thank @elonmusk by the best way as a result of assume if we don’t have him.” pic.twitter.com/b86RanXggp
— Fast Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 21, 2025
Elon Musk recently sat down with Sean Hannity and confirmed that he might have returned the stranded astronauts earlier than immediately and that SpaceX made the supply to the Biden administration however was turned down for causes which have been political.
Musk instructed Hannity, “We undoubtedly provided to return the astronauts earlier, there’s no query about that. The astronauts have been solely alleged to be there for eight days they usually’ve been there for ten months. So clearly that doesn’t make sense, SpaceX might have introduced the astronauts again after a number of months at most and we made that provide to the Biden administration. It was rejected for political causes and that’s only a reality.”
