As you may have heard, the stranded astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore spent nine months on the International Space Station stranded in space as they awaited a rescue that would never come. Elon Musk offered then-President Biden his own rocket to go and grab the duo, but Biden declined, simply not wanting to give Musk a PR win while he was so closely connected to Kamala Harris’s oponent, Donald Trump. 

However, with Trump in charge, Musk sent his rocket “Dragon” up, and retrieved Wilmore and Williams. 

But, as it turns out, the astronauts being up in space for so long would have them build up overtime pay… if they actually qualified for it, which according to NASA’s policies, they aren’t. That’s 286 days worth of extra time in space that they won’t be compensated for. 

If that doesn’t seem right, you’re in good company. 

On Friday, Fox News’s Steve Doocy asked Trump about incidental pay from NASA, which amounts to $5 a day, totaling out to $1,430 for each astronaut. Trump’s response wasn’t surprising, but still endearing. 

He offered to pay that money himself if he had to. 

“Nobody ever mentioned this to me,” said Trump. If I have to, I’ll pay it out of my own pocket? Okay, I’ll get it for them.”

Moreover, Trump seemed surprised at the total. 

“Is that all? That’s not a lot. For what they had to go through,” he added. 

Knowing Trump, he’ll probably find a way to get the astronauts even more for what they underwent. 

The fake news doesn’t want you to see this clip. President Trump just said he will pay the two stranded astronauts overtime pay for the 286 days that they were stuck in space — out of his own pocket.

Amazing. pic.twitter.com/1Tm9KEGRFz

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) March 21, 2025

According to the Daily Mail, this meager total will be tacked onto their salaries, which could total out anywhere between $125,133 to $162,672 annually. 

The small amount of additional pay is almost jaw-dropping, given what these astronauts have been through. That’s nine months stuck in space, away from their families and lives. NASA’s pay system is rather rigid. According to LiveNOW Fox, NASA astronauts don’t even get extra pay for holidays or hazardous missions. Moreover, they’re paid for a 40-hour-per-week salary, despite the astronauts working far more than that in space. 

For comparison, sales professionals in major cities can earn $200,000 annually without stepping foot into a dangerous workspace. 

This definitely applies to Wilmore and Williams. This makes the additional pay they accrued for “incidentals” seem criminal, given the “incident” was Boeing making a bad product and the leader of the free world refusing to bring them home over a political PR complication, which only made them look worse anyway. 

It would be great if Trump did provide that extra pay out of his own pocket, but like he indicated, these astronauts deserve more, especially these two. Perhaps Trump can help astronauts get the pay they truly deserve for the service they’re doing to mankind by exploring and experimenting in the new great frontier.