The troubled spacecraft is back in the news for another odd reason. This time, its due to a series of weird noises coming from the speaker of the Boeing Starliner cabin.
🚨#BREAKING: Boeing's Starliner crew are reporting hearing strange "sonar like noises" emanating from the spacecraft⁰⁰📌#OuterSpace | #Earth ⁰⁰Crews on the International Space Station are trying to identify the source of strange noises reported by Boeing’s Starliner crew, who… pic.twitter.com/MNPpOPnMTR
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) September 1, 2024
The noise sounds like its out of a late 1970s space horror movie. The pulsing noise was first reported by NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore who casually asked about a “strange noise coming from the speaker” of the Boeing Starliner.
NASA Listens in to Hear Boeing Starliner Noises
NASA configured the ISS so that the unusual sound in the Starliner could be heard by the ISS Mission Control. Mission Control was able to hear and copy the noise. The original audio was first recorded by Rob Dale on the NASASpaceflight.com forum. The story was first reported by Eric Berger of Ars Technica.
UPDATE – Here is NASA’s statement after reviewing the data on the noises
Starliner Still Set For a Return Later This Week
The Boeing Starliner is still scheduled to undock from the International Space Station on September 6th. The craft will undock without its two astronauts aboard.
Last week, NASA made the decision, that out of an abundance of caution, the spacecraft would return without crew.
NASA veteran astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched on Starliner June 5 atop a ULA Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, on an end-to-end test flight of the Boeing Starliner. The mission was supposed to only last 8 days but a series of anomalies involving helium leaks and thruster malfunctions led NASA to scrap the crewed return.
Instead, SpaceX will fly the two astronauts home on a Dragon spacecraft on the Crew-9 mission.
