A NASA astronaut has alerted the agency to sonar-like echoes coming from Boeing’s Starliner, which is docked with the ISS
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft has begun to emit an unusual pulsing noise, NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore told mission control on Saturday. Neither Wilmore nor the agency’s staff on the ground were immediately able to explain the sound.
Wilmore and crewmate Suni Williams traveled to the International Space Station (ISS) on the Starliner in June, in what was the spacecraft’s maiden crewed voyage. However, malfunctioning thrusters and helium leaks have left the craft docked to the ISS and incapable of safely returning to Earth, with Wilmore and Williams stranded on the ISS until a SpaceX Dragon capsule can bring them back next year.
In a purported radio transmission to the Johnson Space Center in Texas on Saturday, Wilmore said an unusual noise could be heard from the Starliner.
“I’ve got a question about Starliner,” Wilmore told mission control. “There’s a strange noise coming through the speaker… I don’t know what’s making it.”
Wilmore then held his microphone up to the speaker, until mission control heard the repetitive gong-like noise.
“Alright Butch, that one came through. It was kind of like a pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping,” mission control replied.
