A “strange noise” was reported from the Boeing Starliner on Saturday by a NASA astronaut on the International Space Station. The Boeing Starliner is currently scheduled to return to Earth without a crew this month, leaving two NASA astronauts stranded on the International Space Station until Elon Musk’s SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft launches next February.
According to The New York Post, Astronaut Butch Wilmore contacted Mission Control at Houston’s Johnson Space Center on Saturday after hearing a noise coming from the Boeing Starliner that is preparing to return to Earth. Wilmore is currently stranded on the International Space Station with astronaut Suni Williams after their spacecraft experienced problems following a mission to the International Space Station in June.
In an audio recording of Wilmore’s communication with Mission Control, the astronaut can be heard saying, “There’s a strange noise coming through the speaker, and I didn’t know if you could connect into the Starliner and let me see if I can let you hear…I don’t know what’s making it, but I don’t know if there’s something that maybe is connected between here and there that’s making it happen.”
After hearing the noise, Mission Control told Wilmore, “Butch, that one came through. It was kind of like a pulsating noise, almost like a sonar ping.” Mission Control also assured the astronaut that the noise would be investigated.
Chris Hadfield, an astronaut and former Canadian Air Force pilot, shared an audio recording of the strange spacecraft noise on X, formerly Twitter, noting, “There are several noises I’d prefer not to hear inside my spaceship, including this one that @Boeing Starliner is now making.”
Following news of Saturday’s noise coming from the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, NASA released a statement, saying, “A pulsing sound from a speaker in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft heard by NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore aboard the International Space Station has stopped. The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner.”
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NASA explained that the space station’s audio system was “complex,” which allows multiple spacecraft and modules to be “interconnected. As a result, NASA said it was “common to experience noise and feedback.”
“The crew is asked to contact mission control when they hear sounds originating in the comm system,” NASA added. “The speaker feedback Wilmore reported has no technical impact to the crew, Starliner, or station operations, including Starliner’s uncrewed undocking from the station no earlier than Friday, Sept. 6.”
