NASA has responded to concerns about a “strange noise” reported by astronaut Butch Wilmore aboard the Boeing Starliner. Wilmore, who is currently in space with Sunita Williams, noticed an unusual sound coming from a speaker inside the spacecraft and reported it to Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The audio clip of this exchange, recorded by meteorologist Rob Dale, has since gone viral.
In response, NASA reassured the public that the noise is a common occurrence and poses no risk to the crew or the spacecraft. According to a statement released on Monday, the sound was caused by feedback in the audio system between the space station and the Starliner. The agency confirmed that the noise has stopped and that the Starliner remains on schedule to return to Earth unmanned.
NASA also explained that the space station’s complex audio system, which connects multiple spacecraft and modules, can sometimes produce noise and feedback. The crew is instructed to report such sounds to mission control, but the issue has no technical impact on the Starliner, the crew, or station operations.
While the Starliner is set to return to Earth this week, Wilmore and Williams will remain in space until February 2025, when they are scheduled to return via SpaceX’s Crew-9 due to concerns about the faulty capsule.
