US President Donald Trump said that he would pay the astronauts for their overtime stay in space out of his own pocket after learning that astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore got USD 5 per day for their extra time spent in space.
During an interaction with media persons in the Oval Office, Fox News Journalist Peter Doocy brought to attention that the two astronauts “Didn’t get any overtime pay for all that extra time. They got USD 5 a day per day. For 286 days, that is USD 1,430 in extra pay.” He asked what the administration could do for them, to which Trump responded, “Well, nobody’s ever mentioned this to me. If I have to, I’ll pay it out of my own pocket…That’s not a lot for what they had to go through.”
Trump then thanked Elon Musk for bringing the astronauts back.
“I want to thank Elon Musk… and if we didn’t have Elon, they could have been up there a long time.”
“While in space, NASA astronauts are on official travel orders as federal employees,” reported the New York Times, citing Jimi Russell, a spokesman for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, said via email. He added that the astronauts aboard the International Space Station receive no overtime, holiday or weekend pay.
Russell said that while their transportation, meals, and lodging are covered, they receive a daily “incidentals” allowance, which is a per diem payment in lieu of reimbursements for travel expenses, like other federal employees on work trips.
The incidental allowance for travel to any location is USD 5 per day, Russell added.