A NASA astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) reported Saturday hearing a “strange noise” coming from the Boeing Starliner spacecraft just days before it is set to leave the station and return to Earth on autopilot.
Astronaut Butch Wilmore radioed Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston to ask about the noise.
In an audio recording of the conversation, Wilmore holds a phone up to speakers so Mission Control could hear the noise he was referring to. A pulsating sound can be heard emanating at regular intervals through Wilmore's device.
“Butch, that sound came through,” Mission Control says after not hearing it the first time. “It was like a pulsating noise, almost like a sonar sound.”
NASA PLANS TO SEND 2 ASTRONAUTS INSTEAD OF 3 TO THE ISS SO THAT THE COUPLE STRANDED BY THE BOEING STARLINER PROBLEM CAN RETURN
Boeing's Starliner spacecraft is docked to the Harmony module of the International Space Station on July 3, 2024, as seen from a window of the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft docked to an adjacent port. (NASA via AP)
“I'll do it one more time and let you all scratch your heads and see if you can figure out what's going on,” Wilmore tells Mission Control, playing the sound once more.
Mission Control tells Wilmore that the recording will be transmitted and they will report back to him with what they find.
Wilmore clarifies that the sound is emanating from the speaker inside the Starliner.
The strange sound was first reported by Ars Technica, which cited a recording first captured and shared by Michigan-based meteorologist Rob Dale.
NASA Boeing Crew Flight Test Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are shown inside the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 13, 2024. (POT)
Fox News Digital has reached out to Mission Control and Boeing to ask if the source of the sound has been identified.
Starliner is planned to undock from the ISS, defuel and attempt to return on autopilot with a landing in the New Mexico desert.
NASA decided it was too risky to bring Wilmore and Suni Williams back until February. The astronauts were originally scheduled to make a weeklong trip in early June, but the mission was marred by problems after thruster failures and helium leaks.
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Boeing had been counting on Starliner's first crewed flight to revive its spacecraft program after years of delays and rising costs. The company had insisted that Starliner was safe based on all recent booster testing both in space and on the ground.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
