Watch: Unpacking How Much the Stranded Astronauts Earned During 9-Month Space Stay
Sunita “Suni” Williams and Butch Willmore didn’t cash in on any overtime while stuck in space.
In fact, the two experienced astronauts—who returned to earth March 18 after nine months in orbit, some 278 days beyond what they had planned—were paid their standard salaries.
“When NASA astronauts are aboard the International Space Station, they receive regular, 40-hour work-week salaries,” NASA told People in a statement March 19. “They do not receive overtime or holiday/weekend pay.”
And while they have an out of this world career, astronauts are still considered federal employees and are given the standard travel amenities.
“While in space, NASA astronauts are on official travel orders as federal employees, so their transportation, lodging, and meals are provided,” the statement added. “They also are on long-term TDY (Temporary Duty), 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.”
While the specific salaries for Suni, 59, and Butch, 62, have not been revealed, the pay rate for astronauts fall under the federal governments GS-11 to GS-14 pay scale, which estimates their salary range from being $84,365 to $152,258 depending on their experience.
As for their incidentals, according to fellow astronaut Cady Coleman, it could be as little as a couple bucks a day.
“There is some small amount of money per day for incidentals that they end up being legally obligated to pay you,” Cady—who worked for the International Space Station from 2010 to 2011 told The Washingtonian. “For me, it was around $4 a day.”
If the same amount is applied to Butch and Suni’s mission, they may have ended up with an additional $1,144 on top of their yearly salary.
Butch and Suni—who have each clocked three space flights during their careers—stayed a total of 286 days longer than their intended 8-day mission.
And it was certainly no walk in the park. When the explorers’ SpaceX Dragon capsule touched down in Florida, the pair were wheeled off in stretchers—a typical practice for those who return from space as it can be difficult to walk after floating in zero gravity for an extended period of time.
“A lot of them don’t want to be brought out on a stretcher,” former NASA senior scientist John DeWitt admitted to Live Science, “but they’re told they have to be.”
Keep reading to learn more about Butch an Suni…
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP) (Photo by MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images
Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore launched into space on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft June 5, 2024, with plans to stay at the International Space Station for eight days. Shortly after their launch, the astronauts reported a “stable and isolated leak” in their propulsion-related plumbing, per the Associated Press.
While the leak remained stable throughout their travel to the ISS, four more leaks emerged and five thrusters—devices used for acceleration—failed. They were able to safely dock at the ISS, with the understanding that their mission would likely last longer than eight days.
Two months after their faulty launch, NASA came forward with the debacle of the two astronauts stuck in space. At the time, the space organization was still trying to determine whether the Starliner would be fit for a return to space, and Boeing maintained at the time it should have been, with the company telling E! News in a statement, “If NASA decides to change the mission, we will take the actions necessary to configure Starliner for an uncrewed return.”
Meanwhile, former NASA official Scott Hubbard quelled public concern over Wilmore and Williams’ predicament, telling the Associated Press the astronauts—who have each been to space before on prior missions—are only “kind of stuck,” emphasizing that they have “plenty of supplies and work to do.”
After NASA confirmed that Williams and Wilmore would return to Earth on a SpaceX mission in February or March, rather than attempting to fix the Starliner, their families spoke out.
Wilmore’s wife Deanna Wilmore told WVLT in August of her family’s predicament, “You just sort of have to roll with it and expect the unexpected.”
Meanwhile, Williams’ husband Michael shared that he didn’t think his wife would be unsettled by spending more time in space, telling The Wall Street Journal, “That’s her happy place.”
Just before celebrating six months in space, Williams and Wilmore shared insight into their Thanksgiving celebrations aboard the ISS.
“We have a bunch of food that we’ve packed away that is Thanksgiving-ish,” Wiliams told NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt from the ISS on Nov. 27. “Some smoked turkey, some cranberry, apple cobbler, green beans and mushrooms and mashed potatoes.”
Williams also reiterated that she and Wilmore were doing just fine amid their extended stay in space.
“People are worried about us, really, don’t worry about us,” she added. “We’re feeling good, working out, eating right. We have a lot of fun up here, too.”
Manoj Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
After the astronauts celebrated six months in space, NASA confirmed they would be staying even longer than previously thought. Although the organization had originally planned for the duo to return in February, delays in the SpaceX mission that would retrieve them led their stay to be extended to March or April, NASA said at the time.
(Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
In February, President Donald Trump claimed in a Truth Social post that Williams and Wilmore had been “virtually abandoned” in space amid their eight-day-turned-eight-month journey. However, following the headline-making comment, the astronauts pushed back on the president’s claim.
“We don’t feel abandoned,” Wilmore insisted to CNN’s Anderson Cooper in a Feb. 13 interview. “We don’t feel stuck. We don’t feel stranded. We come prepared. We come committed.”
Williams interjected during the interview that the pair were “doing pretty darn good, actually.”
“We’ve got food, we’ve got clothes, we have great crew members up here,” she continued. “Of course, it was a little bit longer stay than we had expected, but both of us have trained to live and work on the International Space Station and I think we’ve made the most of it.”
During the interview, Wilmore and Williams also confirmed they’d be returning to Earth when SpaceX launches its Dragon capsule March 12.
“They’ll come here, rendezvous and dock,” Wilmore explained. “We’ll do a turnover for about a week and we will return on or about the 19th of March.”
MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images
Just days before her father was set to return, Wilmore’s daughter Daryn Wilmore spoke out on her father’s time in space—and how she felt about the delays in his return to Earth.
“It’s a bit mentally exhausting,” she told the Daily Mail in a March 6 interview. “There’s been issues. There’s been negligence. And that’s the reason why this has just kept getting delayed. There’s just been issue after issue after issue.”
Daryn expressed that her father was “bummed,” but otherwise doing well on the ISS, adding, “My dad is very resilient.”
Keegan Barber/NASA via AP
After their extended nine-month stay in space, Wilmore and Williams safely returned to Earth on March 18. After splashing down off the coast of Florida, the NASA austronauts, alongside fellow NASA crew member Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, were wheeled off the space capsule on stretchers—standard protocol for returning space travelers as they typically can’t walk right away upon their return.
“A lot of them don’t want to be brought out on a stretcher,” former NASA senior scientist John DeWitt told Live Science, “but they’re told they have to be.”
As for how the astronauts will spend their first few days back on Earth? Wilmore’s daughter Daryn gave some insight.
“He’s going to spend the next few days going in [for] tests,” she said in a March 18 TikTok video. “Lots of medical stuff because they’re still technically part of the experiment of human space flight. And just get re-acclimated to gravity and the routine back here on Earth, because it’s been very different than these past 9 months.”
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