To the delight of many, stranded astronauts Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore are finally home.
Their stay at the International Space Station was originally expected to last only eight days, but due to a malfunction in the Boeing Starliner capsule that was supposed to return them to Earth, it was extended to nine months.
NASA and Boeing made several attempts to return the stranded astronauts home, but each was met with technical setbacks, leading to many delays.
Eventually, NASA decided to use a SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which had a history of successful ISS returns.
As they emerged from the SpaceX Dragon, which splashed down off the coast of Florida, Williams and Wilmore waved and smiled.
Considering the length of their stay in space, many assume the stranded astronauts would be paid a hefty sum of money. However, that’s not the case.
Retired NASA astronaut Cady Coleman revealed for the Washingtonian that being federal employees, besides their salary, astronauts are paid the same as any employee at a business trip anywhere on Earth.
“There is some small amount of money per day for incidentals that they end up being legally obligated to pay you,” she said.
For her, it was around $4 (£3.19) per day.
If this is the case, both Williams and Wilmore would only be paid an extra $1,004 (£801.27) for their time.
Both Williams and Wilmore hold GS-15 rankings, which is the highest tier in the US General Pay Schedule.
According to Uniland, their salaries range between $125,133 and $162,672 per year. This means that their prorated earnings for the additional nine months of their mission, factoring in the incidentals, will be $94,998 and $123,152.
We are glad they were finally able to return home.
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