‘I’ll Pay It Out of My Own Pocket’: Trump Says He’ll Make Sure the Two Astronauts Stuck in Space Get Overtime

President Trump said Friday he’s open to paying the overtime for the two astronauts who were stuck on the International Space Station for more than nine months.Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are only eligible for $5 a day in extra payment for “incidentals” while in space, according to a New York Times report on Thursday. The astronauts, who were supposed to be in space only eight days, spent an extra 278 days orbiting the Earth after their spacecraft malfunctioned.They returned to earth this week on one of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Dragon capsules.Because astronauts are federal employees, they only received a small daily travel allowance for “incidentals.”A reporter asked Mr. Trump during an event in the Oval Office if there was anything the administration could do about the overtime pay.“Well, nobody’s ever mentioned this to me. If I have to, I’ll pay it out of my own pocket,” Mr. Trump said. “OK, I’ll get it for them. I’ll take care of that. I like that. I think I’ll pay it right out of my…Is that all? That’s not a lot for what they had to go through.”Mr. Trump did not mention any overtime amount that could be paid. He added that the human body starts to deteriorate after nine or ten months in space and “gets really bad after 14-15 months.”The astronauts were still collecting their regular salary in space, which NASA listed as $152,258 for 2024.Ms. Williams and Mr. Wilmore arrived at the space station on Boeing’s Starliner last June. They were supposed to stay for eight days but NASA determined the Starliner was too risky for their return because it had experienced helium leaks.They ended up staying 286 days, traveled 121,347,491 miles, and completed 4,576 orbits around Earth, NASA said in a release.The pair finally splashed down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, on Tuesday along with astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorunov, who had been aboard the space station since September.

‘I’ll Pay It Out of My Own Pocket’: Trump Says He’ll Make Sure the Two Astronauts Stuck in Space Get Overtime

‘I’ll Pay It Out of My Own Pocket’: Trump Says He’ll Make Sure the Two Astronauts Stuck in Space Get Overtime

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