After an eight-day journey turned into a nine month stay in space, NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are finally home.
The headline-making astronauts were safely returned home on March 18 along with fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who made up SpaceX Crew-9, when they splashed down in the coast of Florida.
They made it back after an 17-hour voyage, which itself came 286 days after Boeing's failed Starliner spacecraft left them up in space much longer than they'd anticipated.
Still, though the two certainly did their fair share of overtime, there was no overtime pay involved.
NASA, in a statement issued to People, gave some insight into what Butch and Suni's pay-out was for their mission.
"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," they revealed.
© Getty Images"While in space, NASA astronauts are on official travel orders as federal employees, so their transportation, lodging, and meals are provided," they added.
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."
© GettyThe outlet further reports astronauts fall under the General Schedule (GS) 12-13 pay grade level, and per FederalPay.org, "this grade is given to high level scientists with advanced degrees/training." Given astronauts have Ph.Ds and a lot of specialized training, "they qualify for one of these two grades."
© GettyAccording to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's 2024 GS Pay Table for the Houston area, which is where NASA's Johnson Space Center is, the pay scale for the GS 12-13 grades the astronauts fall under ranges from $100,287 to $155,034.
© GettyFurther, NASA's website lists an astronaut's annual salary at about $152,258, based on 2024 pay schedules.
Speaking about their extended stay in space, from where they voted for the November general election, and celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas, Sunni, per WBZ-TV, said in January: "We knew that it would be probably a month or so, honestly. But the extended stay was just a little bit different,” adding: "I haven't walked. I haven't sat down. I haven't laid down. You don't have to. You can just close your eyes and float where you are right here."
