Will Sunita Williams get paid for 9-month space overtime? Ex astronaut reveals
ByHT News Desk | Edited by Nayanika Sengupta
Mar 17, 2025 11:52 AM IST
Sunita Williams, who was supposed to return in a week when she went on Boeing’s first astronaut flight to ISS last year, hit the 9-month mark this month.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are finally returning to Earth after having overstayed at the International Space Station (ISS) for quite a bit.
In this screenshot from a NASA video shows Suni Williams and other astronauts greeting each other after the SpaceX capsule docked with the International Space Station, Sunday, March 16(NASA)
In this screenshot from a NASA video shows Suni Williams and other astronauts greeting each other after the SpaceX capsule docked with the International Space Station, Sunday, March 16(NASA)
The duo has been on the ISS since June last year after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed journey was hit by propulsion issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth.
This Sunday, a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft arrived at the ISS Sunday to ferry Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams home along with another American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut aboard.
Also Read: NASA confirms Sunita Williams' Earth return date, shares splashdown time
The astronauts who were supposed to return in a week when they went on Boeing’s first astronaut flight to the ISS hit the nine-month mark earlier this month. This brings us to the question whether Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore get overtime for their extended stay in space like many employees in other sectors generally do?
Will Sunita Williams get overtime for extended space stay?
According to former NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, astronauts receive their regular salary, with no overtime pay. NASA covers transportation, lodging, and food, and there is a small daily allowance for incidentals.
"There is some small amount of money per day for incidentals that they end up being legally obligated to pay you," washingtonian.com quoted Coleman.
"For me, it was around $4 a day," she said
For reference, during her 159-day mission in 2010-11, Coleman received around $636 (over ₹55,000) in additional pay. Using the same calculation, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore—after spending over 287 days in space—will likely receive at least about $1,148 (approximately ₹1 lakh) each in extra compensation.
Sunita Williams salary
According to reports, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore fall under the GS-15, the highest rank of the General Pay Schedule in the US. GS-15 government employees receive a base salary of between $1,25,133 and $1,62,672 (approximately ₹1.08 crore to ₹1.41 crore), depending on their General Schedule Step, as per information on to generalschedule.org.
The General Schedule (GS) classification and pay system covers the majority of 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 (lowest) to GS-15 (highest).
The prorated salary of Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore during the time of their extended nine-month stay aboard the ISS falls between $93,850 and $122,004 (approximately ₹81 lakh to ₹1.05 crore).
With the addition of $1,148 (around ₹1 lakh) in incidental pay, their total earnings for the mission are expected to range from $94,998 to $1,23,152 (approximately ₹82 lakh to ₹1.06 crore).
It's important to note that this calculation does not account for any potential increases in the incidental daily allowance NASA may have implemented since 2011. While Coleman’s experience reflects a $4 per day allowance during her mission, the amount could have changed over the years due to inflation or other factors. Hence, the actual additional compensation for astronauts like Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore could vary based on any adjustments made to the daily allowance by NASA since then.
Sunita Williams' return date
NASA on Sunday confirmed that American astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will return to Earth on Tuesday, March 18, evening (GMT).
NASA said in a statement on Sunday evening that it had moved forward the astronauts' anticipated ocean splashdown off the Florida coast to approximately 5:57 pm Tuesday, Florida time, (3:27 am IST, March 19). It was initially slated for no sooner than Wednesday.
NASA said in a statement that it will provide live coverage of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 return to Earth from the ISS, beginning with Dragon spacecraft hatch closure preparations at 10:45 pm EDT Monday, March 17 (around 8:30 am on March 18 in India).
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