NASA’s Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have returned to Earth from a weeklong mission at the International Space Station that turned into an unexpectedly extended stay.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have nearly half a century of combined experience as astronauts. But this is just their third time in space. Ms. Williams was born in Ohio but grew up in Massachusetts. She was a test pilot in the U.S. Navy and has spent more than 3,000 hours flying 30 different aircraft. She was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1998.

The US astronauts who have now finally returned to Earth are likely to get some extra cash from NASA after their week-long work trip turned into a nine-month space odyssey saga — but not as much as you might think.