NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore (R) and Suni Williams, depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center for Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to board the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for the Crew Flight Test launch , on June 5, 2024. Photo:
MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty
It was a momentous homecoming for NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams when they finally returned to Earth after spending nine months in space — but now inquiring minds want to know, how much will they get paid for their extended stay at the International Space Station?
After months of delays, Wilmore and Williams — who launched into space in June 2024 — safely splashed down around 6 p.m., local time, off the coast of Florida, on Tuesday, March 18. Joining them for the ride were fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who had been in space since September.
Among the many possible questions surrounding the Crew-9 mission — including what it will be like to readjust back to life on Earth — there’s one that’s relatively easy to answer: how much did they make in space and will they receive overtime pay since their mission lasted months longer than initially expected?
In this handout image provided by the NASA, support teams work on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft shortly after it landed with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov onboard on March 18, 2025. Keegan Barber/NASA via Getty
The answer to that question is no, according to NASA. In a statement shared with PEOPLE on March 18, the agency said: “When NASA astronauts are aboard the International Space Station, they receive regular, 40-hour work-week salaries. They do not receive overtime or holiday/weekend pay.”
“While in space, NASA astronauts are on official travel orders as federal employees, so their transportation, lodging, and meals are provided,” the statement continued. “They also are on long-term TDY, and receive the incidentals amount for each day they are in space. The incidentals amount is reduced by the percentage required for the length of the trip per federal travel regulations.”
Astronauts fall under the General Schedule (GS) 12-13 pay grade level. according to FederalPay.org, “This grade is given to high level scientists with advanced degrees/training,” said the website. “Astronauts have Ph.D’s and a lot of specialized training, so they qualify for one of these two grades.”
According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s 2024 GS Pay Table for the Houston area (where NASA’s Johnson Space Center is based), the pay scale for GS 12-13 grades ranges from $100,287 to $155,034.
NASA’s website also states that an astronaut’s annual salary is about $152,258, reflecting 2024 pay schedules.
As for how much more they may end up getting, Cady Coleman, a retired NASA astronaut who worked at the International Space Station (ISS) from December 2010 to May 2011, told the Washingtonian that her incidentals amounted to $4 per day.
“There is some small amount of money per day for incidentals that they end up being legally obligated to pay you,” she said.
Although it remains unclear what the current rate is, if Coleman’s incidentals rate applied to the 286 days that Wilmore and Wiliams spent in space, that would mean they received an additional $1,144.
Meanwhile, a new crew arrived at the ISS on Friday, March 14, replacing Wilmore, Williams, Hague and Roscosmos. The new crew, part of a joint SpaceX and NASA mission, consists of astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, along with mission specialists JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
