Trump says he’ll personally pay 'stranded' NASA astronauts for their 9 months in space after realising their overtime rate
'Stranded' NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore might be in luck, as US President Donald Trump has revealed that he'll personally pay them for their time in space after their overtime wages are revealed.
Wilmore and WIlliams have finally returned back to Earth following a lengthy stay in space, as their initial eight day mission on board the International Space Station (ISS) turned into 285 days after technical issues delayed their journey back.
They thankfully landed into the ocean last Wednesday, and while concerns remain surrounding their health as they were stretchered immediately to a medical facility, they're definitely glad to be back home with their families.
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President Trump has made their return a significant part of his first few months in office, requesting that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk should 'go get' the pair, as he was previously instructed by NASA to do, while also blaming the Biden administration for 'leaving' them there for so long.
While he has made some rather bizarre claims regarding their relationship, both astronauts have thanked Trump and Musk for their efforts in bringing them back home.
They might soon be thanking Trump again though, as he's now vowed to personally pay them for their time on board the ISS after their 'overtime' wages were revealed to him, as reported by the Daily Mail.
While it might seem unfair, NASA protocol indicates that astronauts get functionally no extra money for when they're in space, and simply get a daily extra allocation for incidentals that's akin to what you might get if you were away at a conference for your job.
Former NASA astronauts and Wilmore's own daughter have confirmed that this daily allocation is roughly $5, which would mean that the pair's 285 day stay would have only netted them an extra $1,425 each - or around half a week's salary if you're going by the top astronaut salary of $163,000 per year.
When learning this news, President Trump remarked: "Nobody's ever mentioned this to me. If I have to, I'll pay it out of my own pocket. I'll take care of it."
How much he's actually indicating will be paid is currently unclear, but it would almost certainly be a lot if he's planning on forking out their hourly rate for the entire time they spent in space.
They spent roughly 6,840 hours while in space, so at roughly an hourly rate of $78.37 they would have earned $536,050, or $373,050 in overtime pay, and that's not taking into consideration whether overtime would be boosted!
As a result, the pair would get close to one billion dollars combined, which Trump claims he would be willing to pay out of his own pocket. Forbes currently estimate that the president's personal net worth is currently $4.9 billion, but Axois claims this could extend towards $56.6 billion based on the success of the $TRUMP cryptocurrency that was released during the inauguration.
This particular meme coin not only made 500 Americans millionaires overnight, and reports indicate that around 80% of his net worth was invested into the cryptocurrency, which was likely sold at it's peak for massive gains.