National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has explained the reasons behind the mysterious noises coming from faultyBoeing Starliner spacecraft docked at the International Space Station (ISS). The US space agency said the pulsing sound coming from the Starliner was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and the spacecraft.
Taking to microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), NASA Commercial Crew said,” A pulsing sound from a speaker in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft heard by NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore aboard the International Space Station has stopped. The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner.”
The space agency said, “The space station audio system is complex, allowing multiple spacecraft and modules to be interconnected, and it is common to experience noise and feedback.”
NASA said the speaker feedback Wilmore reported has no technical impact to the crew, Starliner, or station operations, including Starliner’s uncrewed undocking from the station no earlier than Friday, September 6, 2024.
Earlier, astronauts Butch Wilmore reported a strange noises coming out from the faulty Starliner docked at the ISS. The astronaut contacted mission control at Johnson Space Center in Houston (Texas), and told about the strange noise, almost like a sonar ping, that appeared to be coming through a speaker.
I've got a question about Starliner. "There's a strange noise coming through the speaker," astronaut Wilmore told the mission controllers. “I don't know what's making it.”
The ground team at Johnson Space Center in Taxas is connected to the Starliner via a radio frequency system.
"Alright Butch, that one came through. It was kind of like a pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping," Ars Technica quoted the ground control team as saying.
Ars Technica reported that the source of the anomaly was not traced then.
NASA has decided to return the Starliner spacecraft back to Earth uncrewed due to technical problems. Starliner is scheduled to undock from the space station on September 7 at 3:34 am IST.
It is important to note that Boeing's Starliner was launched to the ISS on June 5 with Wilmore and Sunita Williams onboard. The spacecraft has faced multiple issues since its launch. Anomalies like helium leaks and thruster issues with the spacecraft have extended NASA’s mission beyond three months.
