National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are finally returning to Earth after a long stay on the International Space Station (ISS). Both of them have been on the ISS since June last year, when the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing. This spacecraft malfunctioned due to propulsion-related defects on its first crew journey and could not return to Earth.
This Sunday, the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft arrived at the ISS to take home Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, along with another American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut.
The astronauts on Boeing's first astronaut flight were scheduled to return within a week, but they completed nine months on the ISS earlier this month.
Amidst all this, a very interesting question arises whether Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will get any overtime or stipend for staying in space for a long time, like many common employees working in other sectors get?
Will Sunita Williams get overtime for staying in space for a long time?
According to former NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, astronauts only receive their regular salary and no overtime. Yes, NASA pays for transportation, accommodation and food, and also gives a small daily allowance for emergency expenses.
"There's a small amount of money every day for incidentals that the organization is legally obligated to pay," Coleman was quoted as saying by washingtonian.com. "For me, it was about $4 a day."
For example, during his 159-day mission in 2010-11, Coleman received about $636 (over ₹55,000) in additional pay.
Based on this calculation, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore can each get additional compensation of at least $1,148 (about Rs 1 lakh) after spending 287 days in space.
What is Sunita Williams salary?
According to the report, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore fall under the GS-15 paygrade, the highest rank on the General Pay Schedule in the US.
According to information on generalschedule.org, GS-15 government employees receive a base salary between $1,25,133 and $1,62,672 (roughly ₹1.08 crores to ₹1.41 crores), depending on their General Schedule step.
The General Schedule (GS) classification and pay system covers most civilian white-collar Federal employees (about 1.5 million worldwide) in professional, technical, administrative, and clerical positions. The General Schedule has 15 grades—GS-1 (the lowest) to GS-15 (the highest).
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore's salaries during their nine-month stay on the ISS are between $93,850 and $122,004 (roughly ₹81 lakhs to ₹1.05 crores).
Adding $1,148 (roughly ₹1 lakh) in incidental pay, his total earnings for the mission are expected to range from $94,998 to $1,23,152 (roughly Rs. 82 lakhs to Rs. 1.06 crores).
It is important to note here that this calculation does not take into account any possible increase in the Incidental Daily Allowance implemented by NASA since 2011.
Although Coleman's experience shows that he received an allowance of $4 per day during his mission, this amount could change over time due to inflation or other factors.
Therefore, the actual amount of allowance and compensation that astronauts like Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will receive may vary depending on any changes made by NASA to the daily allowance since then.
When will Sunita Williams return to Earth?
NASA on Sunday confirmed that US astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will return to Earth on the evening of Tuesday, March 18 (GMT).
In a statement on Sunday evening, NASA said it had pushed the astronauts' planned landing in the ocean off the Florida coast to 5:57 p.m. Florida time on Tuesday (3:27 a.m. IST on March 19), from its original schedule of Wednesday.
NASA said in a statement that it will provide live coverage of the agency's SpaceX Crew-9's return to Earth from the ISS, beginning with preparations to close the hatch of the Dragon spacecraft at 10:45 pm IST on Monday, March 17 (around 8:30 am on March 18 in India).
