The Boeing Starliner astronauts finally returned to Earth after a nine-month unscheduled sojourn in space, a mission initially planned to last only a week. The astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore had launched in June 2024 on a test flight of the Starliner capsule, Calypso, but a malfunctioning thruster while docking left them adrift in orbit until March 18, 2025.
To most, the idea of having spent so long in space would be an unspeakable horror. And yet, amid the desperate situations, the astronauts receive no compensation for time above and beyond that scheduled, which is a $152,258 annual wage, by NASA’s 2024 rates, equal to a 40-hour workweek wage—no overtime, hazard pay, or compensatory time off, even in a matter of life and death.
Mike Massimino, a retired NASA astronaut who conducted two Space Shuttle missions, once clarified that astronauts gain no monetary rewards for being put in such precarious situations. He further added that astronauts are not given extra pay for the risk they endure or the longer duration of their missions.
A NASA official verified this, noting that astronauts such as Williams and Wilmore are compensated according to their standard 40-hour workweek, with no extra pay for the time they spend in space, weekends, or holidays. Although they do get a small amount per day they spend in space—approximately $5 per day for extended temporary duty—the overall amount they’d be paid for a 286-day stay totals just over $1,400.
This reward system is in sharp contrast with the character of risk in their activities and has challenged the reasonableness of the reward given to astronauts. While astronauts travel under official orders as federal employees, such as transportation, lodging, and sustenance, their wages are not correspondingly changed for the physical and psychological costs of long-duration spaceflights.
Though NASA’s 2025 salary increases will give astronauts a higher paycheck, the risk-reward issue remains an open question. Even without the added pay, astronauts like Williams and Wilmore continue to challenge the boundaries of the unknown in the name of science and space exploration.
