Boeing Starliner crewmember NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore on Saturday, reported hearing a strange, pulsing noise coming from a speaker inside the spacecraft while docked at the International Space Station (ISS). The unusual sound was described as similar to a sonar ping or a submarine’s echo.
"There's a strange noise coming through the speaker," Wilmore tells Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston over the radio. "I don't know what's making it." He then holds a device to the speakers, allowing Mission Control to hear the pulsating sound occurring at regular intervals.
Mission Control likens the sound to a "pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping."
"All right, over to you, call us if you figure it out," Wilmore replied. Mission Control then informs him that the recording will be passed along to the team and they'll let him know what they find.
After analyzing the situation, NASA officials identified the source of the noise as feedback from an audio configuration between the ISS and Starliner.
"A pulsing sound from a speaker in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft heard by NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore aboard the International Space Station has stopped," NASA(@Commercial_Crew) wrote on X. "The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner. The space station audio system is complex, allowing multiple spacecraft and modules to be interconnected, and it is common to experience noise and feedback."
The agency explained that: "The crew is asked to contact mission control when they hear sounds originating in the comm system."
Starliner is scheduled to undock from the ISS this week(Sept. 6), and return to Earth uncrewed.
"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," the agency concluded in the statement.
Starliner launched its first crewed mission(CFT-1) on June 5, transporting NASA astronaut Suni Williams and Wilmore to the ISS. The capsule successfully docked on June 6.
The mission which was initially expected to last around 10 days, was extended after NASA concluded that Williams and Wilmore will instead be coming home aboard SpaceX crew-9 Dragon in February due to helium leak and thruster issues with Starliner.
