Janice R. Andrews
The strange “pulsing sound” heard inside the Boeing Starliner spaceship has been confirmed by NASA to be feedback from a speaker. The space agency said in a statement on Monday that the noise will not affect the capsule’s planned return to Earth on its own. The capsule is set to leave the International Space Station (ISS) as early as Friday.
NASA says the feedback was caused by a problem with how the sound was set up between the space station and the Starliner ship. This is something that happens “often.” Since then, the “pulsing sound” has stopped, and NASA made it clear that it doesn’t pose any danger to the spaceship or its mission.
“The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner,” said NASA. “The crew is asked to contact mission control when they hear sounds originating in the comm system.” The agency made it clear that the feedback that astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore had given has no technical effect on the crew, the Starliner, or the operations of the station. This includes Starliner’s expected undocking from the ISS, which is set to happen no earlier than September 6.
Where the Sound Came From
Sounds from a conversation between Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore got out and spread news of the strange sound. While Wilmore and another astronaut have been on the ISS since the Starliner’s difficult trip in early June, they heard a “strange noise” coming from the speaker.
“The speaker is making a strange sound…” A story from Ars Technica says Wilmore said, “I don’t know what’s making it.” The story used an audio recording that meteorologist Rob Dale from Michigan shared. It was recorded that Mission Control heard the sound and said it was “kind of like a pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping.”
Mission Control said, “Okay, Butch, that one came through.” Hearing the sound through his microphone, Wilmore answered, “I’ll do it again, and I’ll let you all scratch your heads and see if you can figure out what’s going on.” Okay, now it’s your turn. “Call us when you figure it out.”
Starliner’s Longer Stay
The Boeing Starliner took off on its first trip on June 5 and was only supposed to stay at the space station for one week at first. But soon after getting into orbit, NASA said that problems with the control engines and helium leaks had been found, which meant that they would have to stay at the ISS longer. Because of this, the Starliner will return to Earth without its people. It will do this on its own.
There was a strange sound coming from the spaceship about a week before it was supposed to leave the ISS. Even with the strange sound, NASA announced on Thursday that the Starliner will start its return trip on Friday, as long as the weather is good and the systems are ready to go. SpaceX’s rocket should land at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico after midnight on Saturday.
New Missions and Crew Return
There will be two people on the ISS for another six months. Their names are Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams. In February, they will come back to Earth in a SpaceX Dragon ship. The crew will be brought back by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets. These rockets were temporarily stopped last week by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) while an investigation into a landing accident was going on. Since then, though, the FAA has let Falcon 9 restart flying while the probe continues.
NASA has confirmed that the “pulsing sound” has stopped and does not pose a danger to the Starliner or its mission. This gives the spaceship peace of mind as it prepares for its next steps. When the Starliner comes back, it will be a big deal because it will be the end of a long and difficult stay at the ISS.
