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Unpacking How Much the Stranded Astronauts Earned During 9-Month Space Stay
Despite the hiccups successful their journey, Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore would inactive classify it arsenic 1 elephantine leap for mankind.
The NASA astronauts—who officially made their instrumentality to Earth connected March 18 aft spending nine months successful abstraction erstwhile their ngo went awry—are speaking retired for the archetypal clip astir their expedition.
"My archetypal thought was we've conscionable got to pivot," Williams told Fox News successful an interrogation that aired March 31 of learning astir their delay. "If our spacecraft was going to spell location based connected decisions made here, and we were going to beryllium up determination 'til February, I was like, 'Let's marque the champion of it.'"
In fact, Williams noted she was "excited" erstwhile it came to spending successful adjacent much successful abstraction than initially planned. "I'm honored,” she explained of the mission, “to beryllium a small portion of it.”
As for Wilmore, helium noted that helium realized rapidly that the ngo was bigger than him, and therefore, enactment immoderate idiosyncratic feelings oregon worries aside.
“I person to wrapper my caput around, what does our federation request retired of maine close now?” helium shared. “That's going backmost to erstwhile we're successful the fleet, and we're operating from the pointy extremity of the spear. We're an instrumentality of our nation, of our nationalist goals.”
Wilmore—whose teen girl Daryn Wilmore besides shared penetration amid his journey—added, “Did I deliberation astir not being determination for my daughter's precocious schoolhouse year? Of course. But we've trained them to beryllium resilient, my daughters and my family."
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP) (Photo by MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images
Indeed, Wilmore explained that his acquisition has taught him that contempt the ngo being primitively acceptable for conscionable a fewer days, there’s yet nary “given” erstwhile it comes a satellite beyond Earth.
"We don't cognize what's going to happen," helium continued. "We mightiness not beryllium backmost successful 8 days oregon immoderate the program was. Focus connected that, absorption connected the mission. Certainly, [we] woody with the idiosyncratic broadside of it, but I can't fto that interfere with what I'm called to bash astatine the moment."
Williams and Wilmore’s sit-down comes astir 2 weeks aft the pair, who initially traveled to the orbiting International Space Station connected a Boeing Starliner capsule successful June, yet returned location aft their extended stay. And though some, including President Donald Trump, has said they were “abandoned” during that time, they don’t needfully spot it that way.
"'They' failed you. Who? Who’s ‘they’?" Wilmore told Fox News. "There are galore questions that, arsenic the commandant of CFT, I didn't ask, truthful I'm culpable... I'll admit that to the nation. There's things that I did not inquire that I should person asked. I didn't cognize astatine the clip that I needed to inquire them, but, successful hindsight immoderate of the signals were there. Is Boeing to blame? Are they culpable? Sure. Is NASA to blame? Are they culpable? Sure. Everybody has a portion successful this…There were immoderate shortcomings successful tests and shortcomings successful preparations that we did not foresee."
Keep speechmaking for a look backmost astatine their trip…
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP) (Photo by MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images
June 2024
Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore launched into abstraction connected Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft June 5, 2024, with plans to enactment astatine the International Space Station for 8 days. Shortly aft their launch, the astronauts reported a “stable and isolated leak” successful their propulsion-related plumbing, per the Associated Press.
While the leak remained unchangeable passim their question to the ISS, 4 much leaks emerged and 5 thrusters—devices utilized for acceleration—failed. They were capable to safely dock astatine the ISS, with the knowing that their ngo would apt past longer than 8 days.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
August 2024
Two months aft their faulty launch, NASA came guardant with the debacle of the 2 astronauts stuck successful space. At the time, the abstraction enactment was inactive trying to find whether the Starliner would beryllium acceptable for a instrumentality to space, and Boeing maintained astatine the clip it should person been, with the institution telling E! News successful a statement, “If NASA decides to alteration the mission, we volition instrumentality the actions indispensable to configure Starliner for an uncrewed return.”
Meanwhile, erstwhile NASA authoritative Scott Hubbard quelled nationalist interest implicit Wilmore and Williams’ predicament, telling the Associated Press the astronauts—who person each been to abstraction earlier connected anterior missions—are lone “kind of stuck,” emphasizing that they person “plenty of supplies and enactment to do.”
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
August 2024
After NASA confirmed that Williams and Wilmore would instrumentality to Earth connected a SpaceX ngo successful February oregon March, alternatively than attempting to hole the Starliner, their families spoke out.
Wilmore’s woman Deanna Wilmore told WVLT successful August of her family’s predicament, “You conscionable benignant of person to rotation with it and expect the unexpected."
Meanwhile, Williams’ hubby Michael shared that helium didn’t deliberation his woman would beryllium unsettled by spending much clip successful space, telling The Wall Street Journal, “That's her blessed place.”
Nasa/UPI/Shutterstock
November 2024
Just earlier celebrating six months successful space, Williams and Wilmore shared penetration into their Thanksgiving celebrations aboard the ISS.
“We person a clump of nutrient that we’ve packed distant that is Thanksgiving-ish,” Wiliams told NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt from the ISS connected Nov. 27. “Some smoked turkey, immoderate cranberry, pome cobbler, greenish beans and mushrooms and mashed potatoes.”
Williams besides reiterated that she and Wilmore were doing conscionable good amid their extended enactment successful space.
“People are disquieted astir us, really, don’t interest astir us,” she added. “We’re feeling good, moving out, eating right. We person a batch of amusive up here, too.”
Manoj Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
December 2024
After the astronauts celebrated six months successful space, NASA confirmed they would beryllium staying adjacent longer than antecedently thought. Although the enactment had primitively planned for the duo to instrumentality successful February, delays successful the SpaceX ngo that would retrieve them led their enactment to beryllium extended to March oregon April, NASA said astatine the time.
(Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
February 2025
In February, President Donald Trump claimed successful a Truth Social station that Williams and Wilmore had been “virtually abandoned” successful abstraction amid their eight-day-turned-eight-month journey. However, pursuing the headline-making comment, the astronauts pushed backmost connected the president’s claim.
“We don't consciousness abandoned,” Wilmore insisted to CNN’s Anderson Cooper successful a Feb. 13 interview. "We don't consciousness stuck. We don't consciousness stranded. We travel prepared. We travel committed.”
Williams interjected during the interrogation that the brace were “doing beauteous darn good, actually.”
“We've got food, we've got clothes, we person large unit members up here,” she continued. “Of course, it was a small spot longer enactment than we had expected, but some of america person trained to unrecorded and enactment connected the International Space Station and I deliberation we've made the astir of it.”
During the interview, Wilmore and Williams besides confirmed they’d beryllium returning to Earth erstwhile SpaceX launches its Dragon capsule March 12.
“They'll travel here, rendezvous and dock," Wilmore explained. “We'll bash a turnover for astir a week and we volition instrumentality connected oregon astir the 19th of March.”
MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images
March 2025
Just days earlier her begetter was acceptable to return, Wilmore’s girl Daryn Wilmore spoke retired connected her father’s clip successful space—and however she felt astir the delays successful his instrumentality to Earth.
“It’s a spot mentally exhausting,” she told the Daily Mail in a March 6 interview. “There's been issues. There's been negligence. And that's the crushed wherefore this has conscionable kept getting delayed. There's conscionable been contented aft contented aft issue.”
Daryn expressed that her begetter was “bummed,” but different doing good connected the ISS, adding, “My dada is precise resilient.”
Keegan Barber/NASA via AP
March 2025
After their extended nine-month enactment successful space, Wilmore and Williams safely returned to Earth connected March 18. After splashing down disconnected the seashore of Florida, the NASA austronauts, alongside chap NASA unit subordinate Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, were wheeled disconnected the abstraction capsule connected stretchers—standard protocol for returning abstraction travelers arsenic they typically can’t locomotion close distant upon their return.
“A batch of them don't privation to beryllium brought retired connected a stretcher,” erstwhile NASA elder scientist John DeWitt told Live Science, “but they're told they person to be.”
As for however the astronauts volition walk their archetypal fewer days backmost connected Earth? Wilmore's daughter Daryn gave immoderate insight.
“He's going to walk the adjacent fewer days going successful [for] tests,” she said successful a March 18 TikTok video. “Lots of aesculapian worldly due to the fact that they're inactive technically portion of the experimentation of quality abstraction flight. And conscionable get re-acclimated to gravity and the regular backmost present connected Earth, due to the fact that it's been precise antithetic than these past 9 months.”
Keegan Barber/NASA via Getty Images
March 2025
After the astronauts landed backmost connected Earth pursuing 8 other months successful space, NASA addressed whether they'd get paid immoderate overtime.
"When NASA astronauts are aboard the International Space Station, they person regular, 40-hour work-week salaries,” NASA told People successful a statement. “They bash not person overtime oregon holiday/weekend pay.”
As for what a regular 40-hour work-week wage looks similar for an astronaut? It clocks successful astatine anyplace betwixt $84,365 to $152,258, according to the national government's GS-11 to GS-14 wage scale.
Keegan Barber/NASA via Getty Images
March 2025
Once, astatine agelong last, her begetter Butch returned home, girl Daryn shared her absorption to yet being reunited with her dad.
"I'm making him his favourite dessert, which is pecan pie,” the assemblage pupil said successful a TikTok. “I really person a database that's each his favourite things and things that we utilized to bash unneurotic to hopefully bash them these adjacent fewer days that he's present earlier I spell backmost to school, oregon successful the coming months that he's back.”
Watch E! News weeknights Monday done Thursday astatine 11 p.m., lone connected E!.
