Audio of a conversation between NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore and NASA Mission Control has gone viral, as the stranded spaceman recorded an unusual “pulsing” noise emerging from the troublesome Boeing Starliner’s speakers.
Wilmore contacted the ground crew at Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas on Saturday to ask for help figuring out the nature and origin of the mysterious sound, with the call picked up on by a ‘NASA Space Flight’ forum member and reported on initially by Ars Technica.
In the recording, Wilmore can be heard to say that he has a question about Starliner.
Starliner crew reports hearing strange "sonar like noises" emanating from their craft. This is the real audio of it: pic.twitter.com/xzHTMvB7uq
— SpaceBasedFox 𝖕𝖊𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖊𝖊𝖆𝖊𝖗𝖔.𝖈𝖔𝖒 (@SpaceBasedFox) September 1, 2024
“There’s a strange noise coming through the speaker and I didn’t know if you can connect into the Starliner … I don’t know what’s making it’, he said.
Wilmore proceeds to hold a phone up to the speaker, and after an initial failed attempt, manages to capture the pulsing noise emanating from the speaker.
“Butch, that one came through. It was kind of like a pulsating noise, almost like a sonar ping,” Mission control responds.
“I’ll do it one more time and let y’all scratch your heads and see if you can figure out what’s going on,” Wilmore tells Mission Control, playing the sound one more time.
“Good recording, thanks Butch…We will pass it onto the team and let you know what we find,” Mission Control responds.
As of the time of writing, the source of the sound has not been identified.
Canadian celebrity astronaut, Chris Hadfield stated on X that there are “several noises I’d prefer not to hear inside my spaceship, including this one that @Boeing Starliner is now making”.
There are several noises I'd prefer not to hear inside my spaceship, including this one that @Boeing Starliner is now making. pic.twitter.com/NMMPMo5dtt
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) September 1, 2024
Wilmore and his fellow NASA astronaut Suni Williams have been stuck aboard the International Space Station (ISS) since June 6, when they arrived on Boeing’s Starliner aircraft for what was supposed to be a week-long stay. However, a series of technical faults meant that the astronauts were prevented from using the Starliner to return to earth.
The Starliner is now scheduled to undock from the ISS this Friday, September 6, in an unmanned return.
Wilmore and Williams are due to return to earth in February 2025 aboard one of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.