On Saturday, NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore reported hearing strange sonar-like sounds from a speaker inside Boeing Co.'s (NYSE: BA) Starliner spacecraft.
What Happened: Wilmore reached out to Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, expressing his uncertainty about the origin of the noise, reported ARS Technical.
He requested flight controllers to monitor the audio inside the spacecraft, which has been docked to the International Space Station for nearly three months.
Upon connecting to the Starliner's audio via "hardline," Mission Control confirmed the existence of a distinctive, pulsing noise, similar to a sonar ping.
"Alright Butch, that one came through," Mission Control radioed. "It was kind of like a pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping."
"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," the astronaut replied, and then the sonar-like sound repeated itself.
#BREAKING: Boeing's Starliner crew are reporting hearing strange "sonar like noises" emanating from the spacecraft00#OuterSpace | #Earth 00Crews on the International Space Station are trying to identify the source of strange noises reported by Boeing's Starliner crew, who... pic.twitter.com/MNPpOPnMTR
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The source of this peculiar sound is yet to be determined. The Starliner communicates with the space station through a radio frequency system and once docked, an umbilical hardline carries audio, the report noted.
Why It Matters: The Starliner is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station and return to Earth as early as Sept. 6. The spacecraft has been in space for nearly three months.
Sunita Williams and Wilmore launched into space on June 5 aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. They were expected to return after about eight days. However, technical issues with the spacecraft during docking led to delays in their return.
As a result, NASA decided to cancel the plan to bring the astronauts back using the Boeing spacecraft altogether.
Last month, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk expressed optimism for Boeing Space under its new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, after NASA announced that the astronauts who went to space aboard Boeing's Starliner would return via a SpaceX vehicle.
Image via NASA
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