Washington
Astronaut Sunita Williams and Buch Wilmore have become a long and interesting story stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) for more than 9 months due to technical problems during the 8 -day mission. Now NASA has cleared the way for both of them to return to Earth by sending special spacecraft. But will they get overtime salary for this? Let’s know the whole story. Sunita Williams and Buch Wilmore went to space for 8 days under NASA’s mission in June 2024. The mission was organized by the US Boeing Starlineer spacecraft. After completing the mission period, he wanted to come back, but suddenly his spacecraft got stuck on ISS due to technical problems. Because of this, he had to stay in space for longer than the scheduled time.
They were not trapped, but were working!
There was news in the media that both astronauts were “trapped” on ISS. But according to NASA, they were not trapped there. Indeed, both astronauts were fully active there and were doing various tasks for NASA. According to NASA, they are federal employees who are receiving their regular salary, such as an employee on Earth during his regular job.
What happened to overtime salary?
Now the biggest question is whether Sunita and Buch will get additional overtime salary for these 9 months? This question has been answered by NASA’s retired astronaut Catherine Grace (Caddy) Kolman. He said that astronauts do not get overtime or additional salary. When they are in space, their jobs are what they do on earth, and they keep getting their regular salary. However, they definitely get a small daily stipend (daily allowance), which is for casual expenses. This allowance is $ 4 (about Rs 347) per day. Accordingly, Sunita and Buch will get about 1,148 dollars (about 1 lakh rupees) as additional compensation. It is the form of an accidental expense, which occurs in addition to salary.
Salary of federal employees working in NASA
Sunita Williams and Buch Willmore come in NASA’s GS-15 salary grade, the highest level of federal employees. In this grade, employees get salary ranging from about Rs 1.08 crore to Rs 1.41 crore annually. This salary is determined in view of their responsibilities as an astronaut of NASA.
Return through special spacecraft
Now the process of returning both is also very interesting. To take both of them, NASA has sent the dragon spacecraft of SpaceX. This spacecraft can bring back these two astronauts to Earth by 19 March. Through this dragon capsule, he will return with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian astronaut Alexander Gorbunov.
Why is this mission important?
This mission is also special because SpaceX Dragon Capsules not only completed NASA’s regular crew rotation mission, but also cleared the way for the long -awaited return of two astronauts. This mission also proves that private companies’ space flight services, such as SpaceX, are now playing a very important role with NASA.
