President Donald Trump made a magnanimous offer once he found out that the stranded astronauts weren’t going to receive overtime pay and then tossed a threat on top.
The president was taking questions from reporters at the Oval Office when he was told by Peter Doocy of Fox News that the formerly stranded astronauts would not be paid overtime despite being stuck in space for 286 days.
‘I’ll get it for them. … That’s not a lot for what they had to go through.’
Doocy reported that the astronauts would only receive $5 per day in extra pay, which would amount to $1,430.
“Well, nobody’s ever mentioned this to me. If I have to, I’ll pay that out of my own pocket, OK? I’ll get it for them,” Trump said in response. “… That’s not a lot for what they had to go through.”
Trump went on to thank Elon Musk for sending a SpaceX ship to rescue the astronauts, who had been stuck in space since the Biden administration.
“And if we don’t have Elon, they could be up there a long time,” Trump continued. “Who else is gonna get them? And I just want to thank him. He’s going through a lot.”
The SpaceX capsule splashed down in the newly renamed Gulf of America off the coast of Florida on Tuesday with four astronauts, including Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. The pair were originally scheduled for only a short eight-day stay on the International Space Station, but safety issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft led NASA to keep them on board for about nine months.
Some noted that dolphins could be seen jumping around the capsule in the ocean.
Video of Trump’s comments can be viewed on the X social media platform.
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Trump pays astronauts, Stranded astronauts, Trump own pocket, Biden strands astronauts, Politics