NASA’s pay for Sunita Williams revealed - no extra overtime and a $4 daily stipend

NASA has released the salary figures for astronaut Sunita Williams after her long stay on the International Space Station (ISS). Even though the mission was long, lasting more than nine months rather than the initial eight days, Williams was not paid any overtime for the extra time she spent in space. She received a small $4 daily allowance for her stay. This revelation has also generated debate regarding the payment of astronauts, emphasising the gap that exists between the immense needs of space travel and the compensation offered to those who embark on such demanding and high-risk tasks for NASA.

Unlike certain careers, there is no special overtime compensation for astronauts spending time on missions. As explained by retired NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, astronauts are federal employees. Therefore, all the time they spend in space is also viewed as any other normal work assignment on Earth with no extra pay for the long duration.
Astronauts also continue to get their normal paychecks for the duration of their missions, and NASA takes care of their subsistence and living costs when they are on the ISS. Astronauts have only a tiny daily stipend as additional payment, which is meant to account for small expenditures. As told by Ms. Coleman, the stipend has been $4 per day (approximately Rs 347), which might sound less considering the extreme conditions.
To put things into perspective, between her 159-day mission in 2010-11, Ms. Coleman earned a total of approximately $636 (more than Rs 55,000) in incidental compensation. Going by similar estimates, both Williams and Wilmore, who have already logged more than 287 days in space, are likely to receive about $1,148 (around Rs 1 lakh) each as extra compensation for the longer mission length.

Both Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore fall under the GS-15 pay grade, the highest in the General Schedule (GS) system for federal employees. The pay for this grade is between $125,133 and $162,672 per year (approximately Rs 1.08 crore to Rs 1.41 crore). Since their mission was longer, their pay will be prorated based on the duration they were on the ISS.
According to the reports, for their nine-month stay, Williams and Wilmore will earn a prorated salary ranging from $93,850 to $122,004 (approximately Rs 81 lakh to Rs 1.05 crore). Adding the incidental pay of $1,148, their total earnings for the mission will likely be between $94,998 and $123,152 (around Rs 82 lakh to Rs 1.06 crore).
Even after their prolonged residence, NASA has made it clear that the astronauts are not really "stranded" on the ISS. NASA has explained that they have continued to be actively engaged in their work on the space station, adding to the ongoing scientific research and operations.

After a few setbacks, the astronauts' journey back to Earth has finally begun. Their flight had initially been rescheduled due to technical issues with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. But NASA had recently greenlit a relief mission, and a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was successfully launched from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida at 7:03 pm ET on Friday (4:33 am IST). The rocket is carrying the Dragon spacecraft, which docked safely with the ISS around 10 am.
The Dragon spacecraft is on NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 mission, which has also introduced four new crew members to the ISS. They are NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
When the astronauts are finally ready to go back to Earth, their lengthy stay on the ISS has raised a big point of debate regarding the challenges that they have experienced and the money they will earn for staying away for such an extended period of time.
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