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On Saturday, NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore radioed the NASA Mission Control Center to report hearing a heavy, pulsating noise coming from the Boeing Starliner spacecraft.
“I’m hearing a strange noise coming from my speakers,” Williams said in a recording obtained by Ars Technica. “I don’t know what it’s causing,” he later added.
Wilmore launched aboard the Boeing Starliner with astronaut Suni Williams in June and the pair were scheduled to return to Earth about a week later, but have actually been living on the International Space Station for more than two months.
The Starliner spacecraft experienced failures during flight: five of its 28 Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters shut down, and the helium supply used to pressurize the propulsion system developed a leak, but the mysterious sounds Wilmore heard were completely unrelated to these problems.
On Monday, NASA clarified that the ominous noise was simply a feedback problem between speakers on the Boeing Starliner and the International Space Station, to which it is docked.
“The space station’s audio systems are complex, with multiple interconnected spacecraft and modules, and it is common for noise and feedback to occur,” NASA said in a statement.
NASA added that the noise would not affect crew members.
The Starliner is scheduled to return to Earth unmanned on Saturday, September 7.
NASA decided it was not safe to return Williams and Wilmore to Earth.
The two astronauts are scheduled to return aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in February 2025, about eight months after launch.