Donald Trump on Sunita williams: American space agency NASA’s veteran astronaut Sunita Williams and his colleague Buch Wilmore will get only 5 US dollars (Rs 430) per day as overtime despite unplanned in space for 278 days.
Actually, when this information came in front of US President Donald Trump, he expressed surprise and said, “That’s all?
Astronauts stuck for 9 months
Sunita Williams and Buch Wilmore went to a week’s mission in June 2023 last year, but their mission rose by 9 months due to technical fault in Boeing Starlineer spacecraft and recently returned to Earth on 19 March 2024. According to NASA’s rules, no special salary is given for their overtime or additional tenure. However, they get a minor daily allowance, which is fixed at $ 5 (Rs 430) per day. After an additional tenure of 278 days, they will get a total of US $ 1,430 (Rs 1,22,980).
When a reporter asked Trump if these astronauts would be given additional salary, they replied, “No one talked to me about it. If needed, I will pay from my pocket.”
NASA astronaut overtime policy
All astronauts of NASA are federal employees, whose salary is fixed according to a certain grade. Sunita Williams gets a salary of US $ 152,258 (Rs 1.30 crore) annually as GS-15 level employee, including health insurance and housing allowance. However, they are not paid for overtime, weekend or holidays.
How much does Sunita Williams get salary?
Trump commented on this situation and praised his old colleague and tech veteran Alan Musk. Williams and Wilmore were brought back to Earth with the help of SpaceX’s dragon capsules. He said, “If we did not have Alan Musk, he would be stuck in space for a long time. Who else would have brought him?” He also targeted the Biden administration and said that NASA needs to improve the safety and salary policy of these passengers.
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