The astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, were supposed to be home roughly nine months ago. They left Earth on June 5, 2024, on a mission that was supposed to last for just eight days. Instead, the Boeing Starliner that they used experienced multiple helium leaks soon after liftoff. Despite the leaks stabilizing upon arrival at the International Space Station, NASA was concerned about issues with the thrusters, leading them to send the Starliner back to Earth empty.
They ultimately decided in August 2024 to allow Elon Musk’s SpaceX Dragon capsule to bring back the astronauts, but claimed that it had to wait until February 2025 to avoid interrupting other scheduled missions. Many conservatives, including Trump and Musk, have accused the Biden administration of refusing to save the stranded astronauts sooner to avoid bad publicity.
Trump discussed the issue during a press conference in the Oval Office on March 21 in response to a question from Fox News Channel’s senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy, who informed the president that the astronauts were paid only $1,430 for the extra nine months that they were stranded in space because of a $5 a day per diem.
“They got $5 a day per diem for 286 days. That is $1,430 in extra pay. Is there anything the administration can do to… make them whole?” Doocy asked the president.
Trump responded by vowing to “take care” of the astronauts, suggesting that he could pay them personally if NASA wouldn’t.
“Well, nobody’s ever mentioned this to me,” Trump responded. “If I have to, I’ll pay it out of my own pocket, okay? I’ll get it for ’em. I’ll take care of it. I like that. I think that’s good. I’ll pay it right out of my–is that all? That’s not a lot for what they had to go through.”
The president went on to praise Musk for helping the astronauts return home safely, stating: “And I want to thank Elon Musk, by the way, because think if we don’t have him. You know, there’s only so long — even though they’re in the capsule up there — the body starts to deteriorate after nine or ten months and gets really bad after fourteen, fifteen months, with the bones and the blood… And if we don’t have Elon, they could be up there a long time. Who else is going to get them? And I just want to thank him.”
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