Trump says he’ll cover pay of astronauts who received no overtime after being stranded in space for 9 months: ‘Out of my own pocket’
By Josh Christenson
Published March 21, 2025, 3:34 p.m. ET
President Trump promised Friday to personally cover overtime pay for astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore after they were stranded in space for 286 days — spanning both the 47th president and former President Joe Biden’s terms.
“If I have to, I’ll pay it out of my own pocket,” Trump, 78, told Fox News’ Peter Doocy when asked about the astronauts who were trapped at the International Space Station since June 2024.
Doocy pointed out that NASA had agreed to cover just $5 per day in incidentals for the cosmic crew, amounting to roughly $1,430 in possible back pay.
“Nobody ever mentioned this to me,” the president responded, apparently surprised. “Is that all? That’s not a lot, for what they had to go through.”
A NASA spokesman previously told The New York Times in a statement that the agency’s astronauts are “on official travel orders as federal employees,” effectively categorizing their extended stay as a business trip.
more
https://nypost.com/2025/03/21/us-news/trump-says-hell-cover-pay-of-astronauts-who-received-no-overtime-after-being-stranded-in-space-for-9-months-out-of-my-own-pocket/
