Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have recently returned from the International Space Station after a full 9 months. These astronauts went to the space station for just 8 days, but due to some reasons they had to stay in space for the entire 9 months. After this, President Trump said that he was not aware that the astronauts did not get overtime pay for the increased days of stay in space. Due to this, Trump said that he will pay the astronauts from his own pocket.
President Donald Trump said on Friday he was not aware that NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore had not received overtime pay for their unexpectedly extended stay on the International Space Station (ISS). Donald Trump indicated he may cover the cost of overtime for the astronauts.
Trump asked to give money from his pocket
During a press briefing at the White House, Fox News’ Peter Doocy informed Donald Trump that the astronauts had not received overtime pay for their extended stay on the space station, instead of the $5 a day they were entitled to – a total of $1,430 (Rs 1,22,980) for 286 days.
After getting this information, President Trump said that no one had informed me about this. If needed, I will pay his salary from my own pocket. It is not a big deal to do this for whatever he has suffered.
Expressed gratitude to Elon Musk
After this, Trump thanked SpaceX’s Elon Musk for bringing the astronauts, Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague and Roscosmos astronaut Alexander Gorbunov back to Earth. All these astronauts returned to Earth early Wednesday morning aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.
Sunita Williams and Wilmore went on an 8-day mission to test Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, but due to technical problems, the mission was extended to 9 months. The spacecraft returned in September last year without passengers.
Trump said in the briefing, imagine what would have happened if we did not have Musk, even though he was in the capsule, the body starts deteriorating after 9 or 10 months. He further said, after 14, 15 months the bones would have deteriorated, if we did not have Musk, he would have remained in the space station for a long time, then who else would have brought him back to Earth.
