Nasa astronaut Butch Wilmore has reported a “strange noise” coming from the Boeing starliner spacecraft whose problems are now due to leave it stuck at the International Space Station (ISS) six months longer than initially anticipated.
An audio recording capturing the exchange between Mr Wilmore, 61, and Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston heard Mr Wilmore inquire about the noise.
On Saturday he said of the pulsing sound emitted from the spacecraft which he and colleague Suni Williams launched aboard in June: “I’ve got a question about Starliner. There’s a strange noise coming through the speaker … I don’t know what’s making it.”
The source of the eerie pulsing “sonar ping” noise from Boeing spacecraft has not yet been traced, but it could be heard on the speaker.
“Alright Butch, that one came through,” Mission control radioed Wilmore. “It was kind of like a pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping.”
Mr Wilmore asked Houston flight controllers to see if they could listen but ultimately he had to put his microphone up to the speaker.
“I’ll let y’all scratch your heads and see if you can figure out what’s going on…Call us if you figure it out,” he said.
The recording was captured and shared by Michigan-based meteorologist Rob Dale.
It is not the first to have recorded such a noise as astronauts have been said to notice oddities in space every so often.
The exchange follows recent news that Nasa officials deemed issues with Starliner's propulsion system too risky to bring its first crew home as planned, dealing a major blow to Boeing's struggling space program.
Mr Wilmore and his colleague are now slated to return to Earth in a capsule built by Boeing’s chief space rival Space X, in February.
Despite the delay, Boeing said in a statement last month: “Boeing remains confident in the Starliner spacecraft and its ability to return safely with crew. We continue to support Nasa’s requests for additional testing, data, analysis and reviews to affirm the spacecraft’s safe undocking and landing capabilities.”
