Last Saturday, NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, currently on the ISS, heard strange sounds coming from a speaker inside the Starliner spacecraft, writes Ars Technica. “There’s a strange noise coming from the speaker… I don’t know what’s making it,” the astronaut told Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, asking them to check the source of the sound.
Image source: NASA
Wilmore’s conversation with Mission Control was recorded by Michigan meteorologist Rob Dale. Apparently Wilmore was in the Starliner capsule at that moment. After Mission Control connected to the Starliner to listen to the sound in the ship, Wilmore brought the microphone to the speaker and the characteristic sound was soon heard again. “It sounded like a pulsating noise, almost like a sonar,” the center confirmed.
It is unclear what caused the strange sound. During Starliner’s flight to the ISS, communication with the station is maintained via a radio frequency system. However, after docking, a rigid cable is connected to the station, which transmits sound.
From time to time, astronauts encounter strange things in space. For example, during a flight into space in 2003, astronaut Yang Liwei reported hearing a sound in orbit that sounded like a wooden hammer hitting an iron bucket. As it turns out, the noise was caused by slight deformations due to pressure differences between the inner and outer walls of the spacecraft.
During Starliner’s first manned flight to the ISS, the astronauts encountered a number of problems, including helium leaks and engine failure, so the decision was made to send the ship to Earth in autonomous mode on September 6, and the astronauts themselves are expected to be transported home aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft in February next year.