How Much Will NASA Pay Sunita Williams, Buch Wilmore For Their Prolonged Stay In Space?

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore Set to Return from ISS After Nine-Month Stay

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who originally embarked on what was meant to be an eight-day mission, have now spent over nine months aboard the International Space Station (ISS) due to unexpected technical issues.

Photo Credit: PTI

Their return to Earth is now scheduled for no earlier than March 19, with the pair set to travel back aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Meanwhile, discussions around their compensation for the extended stay in space have sparked interest.

No Overtime Pay for NASA Astronauts

According to retired NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, astronauts do not receive overtime pay, as they are classified as federal employees. Their time in space is considered equivalent to an official work trip on Earth, meaning they continue to earn their regular salary while NASA covers their food and living expenses aboard the ISS.

The only additional compensation they receive is a small daily stipend for incidentals, reportedly just $4 (₹347) per day, as revealed by Coleman in an interview with the Washingtonian.

For comparison, Coleman-who spent 159 days in space in 2010-11-received around $636 (₹55,000) in extra pay.

Using the same calculation, after spending 287 days on the ISS, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are expected to receive just $1,148 (₹1 lakh) each in additional compensation.

NASA has, however, clarified that the astronauts were not technically "stranded", as they remained actively engaged in their duties on the ISS.

Sunita Williams' Expected Salary for the Mission

Both Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore hold the GS-15 pay grade, which is the highest level for federal employees under the General Schedule (GS) system. A GS-15 employee earns an annual salary ranging from $125,133 to $162,672 (₹1.08 crore to ₹1.41 crore).

For their nine-month stay on the ISS, they are expected to earn a prorated salary between $93,850 and $122,004 (₹81 lakh to ₹1.05 crore).

Adding their $1,148 (₹1 lakh) in incidental pay, their total earnings for the mission will likely range from $94,998 to $123,152 (₹82 lakh to ₹1.06 crore).

Return Mission Underway

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were part of NASA's Boeing Starliner test flight, which encountered technical difficulties, leading to repeated delays in their return.

NASA has since approved a relief mission, and a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the Dragon spacecraft, successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:03 pm ET on Friday (4:33 am IST). The Dragon docked onto the ISS around 10 am.

Meanwhile, NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 mission has also arrived at the ISS, bringing four new crew members: NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.