Stranded NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore reported a ‘strange noise’ coming from the Boeing Starliner and even Mission Control were stumped
NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore has reported hearing a ‘strange noise’ coming from a speaker inside the Starliner spacecraft.
Butch Wilmore arrived at the International Space Station on June 6 earlier this year as part of NASA‘s Boeing Crew Flight Test. However, the capsule malfunctioned meaning he and Suni Williams may now be stranded in space until 2025.
And while living among the Expedition 71 crew and completing a range of scientific and operational tasks, something unexpected cropped up last week.
On Saturday (August 31), Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston received a radio call from Wilmore, the veteran of two previous spaceflights reporting hearing something weird.
In an audio recording of the call obtained by Ars Technica captured by Michigan-based meteorologist Rob Dale, Wilmore can be heard radioing in to ask ‘a question about Starliner’ – the transportation spacecraft designed to take astronauts to-and-from the International Space Station and other low-Earth-orbit destinations.
Wilmore can be heard saying: “There’s a strange noise coming through the speaker and I didn’t know if you could connect into the Starliner and let me… I don’t know what’s making it.”
The team back on earth then connected via ‘hardline’ to try and listen in to onboard Starliner.
The noise is coming from a speaker in the Boeing Starliner (Joel Kowsky/NASA via Getty Images)
However, the team connected back to Wilmore and reported: “Negative. We did not hear anything.”
Butch then managed to share the noise he’d been hearing – a sort of tinny, pounding sound, beating rhythmically like a clock.
“Okay Butch, that one came through,” Mission Control responded.
They theorized: “It was kind of like a pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping.”
Wilmore replied: “I’ll do it one more time, and I’ll let y’all scratch your heads and see if you can figure out what’s going on. Here we go.”
There’s no mistaking, there is certainly a noise coming from the Starliner, coming through Wilson’s audio loud and clear. Though, the question remains – what is it?
This is terrifying: NASA's Starliner crew, who are stuck in space, reported hearing strange 'sonar-like noises' emanating from their craft on September 1, 2024.
A somewhat eerie noise started to emit from the Starliner spacecraft, and astronaut Butch Wilmore said to Mission… pic.twitter.com/tnt222p1eg
— Vicky Verma (@Unexplained2020) September 1, 2024
Wilson concludes the call: “Alright, over to you. Call us if you figure it out.”
While Wilmore and Williams won’t be returning to Earth until around February 2025, Ars Technica reports Starliner is set to fly back to Earth on September 6.
Whether they find out what’s making the noise through the speaker by that time, or just have to take a look inside when it’s back, who knows?
Either way, let’s hope they find out soon, as one Twitter user noted: “This is horror movie material.”
Featured Image Credit: NBC News/ NASA
