The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will compensate astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore for the long time they were stranded in space due to technical failures of their Starline spacecraft.
The astronauts departed for space in June 2024 for a one-week journey, but it extended to 286 days, which is nine months.
Spending a lot of time in space has negative consequences for the physical and mental health of humans. Hence, NASA has the obligation to financially compensate Williams and Wilmore.
Spending a lot of time in space causes loss of muscle and bone mass. In two weeks, a person can lose up to 20% of their muscle mass. Muscles begin to atrophy because they do not have to exert force to support the body due to the lack of gravity. The same happens with bones, the skeletal system can decrease between 1% and 2% for each month spent in space. That’s why astronauts do rigorous exercises, but this does not completely stop the atrophy.
La Nación explained that spending a long time in space causes the spine to elongate, leading to back pain and herniated discs upon returning to Earth. Another negative consequence for health is loss of vision, brain swelling, which causes confusion, and even DNA damage, as explained by Susan Bailey, professor of Environmental and Radiological Health at Colorado State University, in the aforementioned source.
Payment to stranded astronauts in space
Although NASA has not yet revealed the exact amount with which it will compensate the astronauts stranded in space between 2024 and 2025, The Washingtonian published a report with calculations of the payouts they could receive.
It is necessary that the salaries of Williams and Wilmore are between $125,133 and $162,672. This means that for the nine months they were in space, they could receive compensation ranging from $93,850 to $122,004, solely for their basic salary. In addition to this, there are incidental payments that could be around $1,000, depending on the circumstances.