Unidentified sonar-like sound heard through Starliner's speakers

Photo: NASA

As Starliner is prepping to undock from the International Space Station and return to Earth uncrewed in a matter of days, a new mystery surfaces and leaves the crew baffled. On Saturday, astronaut Butch Wilmore alerted NASA's Mission Control about an unexplained "strange noise" heard from a speaker in the spacecraft.

The steady ringing beat was described by the flight controller Wilmore was talking to as a "pulsing noise" resembling a "sonar ping." Mission Control asked Wilmore if there were other noises or "weird configs," but the astronaut noted everything else seemed normal. It's still unknown what caused the sound.

The Starliner has been docked at the ISS since early June as engineers have tried to figure out the issues that arose during its first crewed flight. It will be returning to Earth on September 6 without its crew to ensure the safety of Wilmore and NASA astronaut Suni Williams. They will continue to work on the space station for the next few months while they wait for a ride home from SpaceX expected to arrive in February 2025.

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