Sunita Williams Homecoming: How Much Salary NASA Will Give For 9-Months Overtime? Check Pay Package

Sunita Williams Homecoming: Stranded astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are finally returning to the Earth after being stranded for over nine months on the International Space Station (ISS). The longer-than-expected stay was due to technical issues in the space station.

However, both SpaceX and NASA have carried out a mission to bring them back home. The two space giants have sent a Falcon 9 rocket which carried Dragon spacecraft on the Crew-10 mission. Williams and Willmore are expected to touch the Earth on March 19.

While the move is being watched with bated breaths for Williams and Willmore's return across the globe, the question of their salary has also been a topic of discussion. Many are wondering whether NASA will pay Williams and Willmore overtime salary for their extended stay in the ISS.

Sunita Williams, Butch Willmore Overtime Salary:

As per NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, there is no overtime salary for NASA astronauts. They get regular salaries like any federal employee on a business trip, while NASA takes care of transportation, lodging and food, reported Washingtonian.

However, NASA does give additional compensation as a small daily stipend for any incidents. As per reports, this daily compensation is around $4 or Rs 347 per day.

Let's take an example: Coleman has logged more than 4,330 hours in space aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia and the International Space Station. As per the NASA report, On Coleman's third space mission, she served as a flight engineer aboard the Russian Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft for launch and landing and spent 159 days in space aboard the International Space Station.

Her 159-day mission would make about Rs 55,173 additional compensation as a small daily stipend of Rs 347 per day.

Coming to Williams and Willmore, the two launched aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 5, 2024, for its first crewed flight, arriving at the space station on June 6. They were supposed to return in a week, however, overstayed till March 15, 2025, due to technical issues. This would come to be around 287 days. So, at Rs 347 per day small stipend money, the two astronauts could receive Rs 1,00,000 or $1,148.

How much Salary Will Sunita Williams And Butch Willmore Receive?

Both Williams and Willmore, as per NASA, were not technically stranded but have been actively working on the ISS during their overstay.

The two astronauts are part of the GS-15 pay grade, which is the highest level of package for federal employees. The General Schedule (GS) is the predominant pay scale within the United States civil service. About 71% of federal employees are under GS. However, the pay package varies from grade level under GS.

At present, the GS is segregated into 15 grades, and each of them has 10 steps. GS-1 to GS-7 grades are usually for entry-level positions, while GS-8 to GS-12 are for mid-level positions. However, the GS-13 to GS-15 range is for top-level positions.

A table compiled by Office of Personnel Management showed that GS-15 grade employees get base salary of $125,133 in Step 1, $129,304 in Step 2, $133,475 in Step 3, $137,646 in Step 4, $141,817 in Step 5, $145,988 in Step 6, $150,159 in Step 7, $154,330 in Step 8, $158,501 in Step 9, and $162,672 in Step 10.

From the minimum base salary of $125,133 to the maximum base salary of $162,672, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore could be earning between Rs 1.08 crore to Rs 1.41 crore under GS-15 grade.

Taking in the hours worked during a full-time schedule for 9 months in the Space, Williams and Willmore could get between $93,850 - $122,004 which would be approximately Rs 81 lakh - Rs 1.05 crore. Adding the small stipend pay, the salary would rise in the range of $94,998 - $123,152 which would be approximately between Rs 82 lakh to Rs 1.06 crore.

Sunita Williams, Butch Willmore's Homecoming:

NASA on its website said, following the agency's decision to return Starliner uncrewed, the duo is currently living and working aboard the space station as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew and will return home in March 2025 aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov on NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 mission.

On March 15, SpaceX and NASA launched a Falcon 9 rocket that carried the Dragon spacecraft of Crew-10 Mission. On March 16, the SpaceX CREW-10 members enter the space station and join the Exp 72 crew for a long-duration space research mission, as per the ISS.

Watch Full Video Here: