National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts Butch Wilmore and India-origin astronaut Sunita Williams reported strange noises coming out from faulty Starliner spacecraft docked at the International Space Station (ISS).
The astronauts even contacted mission control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, about the strange noise, almost like a sonar ping, that appeared to be coming through a speaker.
I’ve got a question about Starliner. “There’s a strange noise coming through the speaker,” astronaut Wilmore told the mission controllers. “I don’t know what’s making it.”
According to Ars Technica, Wilmore placed his mic next to the speakers so that Mission Control could also hear the strange sound he was talking about.
The ground team at Johnson Space Center in Taxasis connected to the Starliner via a radio frequency system, which helps them connect to the crew in the spacecraft.
“Alright Butch, that one came through. It was kind of like a pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping,”Ars Technica quoted the ground control team as saying.
Since the source and cause of the mysterious noise were not clear the first time, the veteran astronaut told the ground team thathe would try again so that mission control could identify what was wrong.
“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,” Ars Technica said the NASA astronaut stuck in ISS can be heard as saying.
Ars Technica reported that the source of the anomaly has not been traced yet. NASA has decided to return the Starliner spacecraft back to Earth uncrewed due to technical problems. Starliner is scheduled to undock from the space station on September 7 at 3:34 am IST.
It is important to note that Boeing’s Starliner was launched to the ISS on June 5 with Wilmore and Sunita Williams onboard. The spacecraft has faced multiple issues since its launch. Anomalies like helium leaks and thruster issues with the spacecraft have extended NASA’s mission beyond three months. Now NASA has approached SpaceX to bring Williams and Wilmore back to Earth in February 2025.