'Strange' Noise That Astronaut Heard Coming from Boeing Starliner Is Just a 'Common' Occurrence, NASA Says

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo:MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty

MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty

“The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner," NASA’s statement continued. “The space station audio system is complex, allowing multiple spacecraft and modules to be interconnected, and it is common to experience noise and feedback.”

On Saturday, Aug. 31, Wilmore, 61, first reported to NASA’s Mission Control that he was hearing “strange noises” emanating from the Boeing craft, which is currently attached to the International Space Station.

“I’ve got a question about Starliner,” Wilmore said, according toreported accounts of the exchange. “There’s a strange noise coming through the speaker … I don’t know what’s making it.”

“Butch, that one came through,” Mission Control said after not hearing it the first time. “It was kind of like a pulsating noise, almost like a sonar ping.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

NASA added in its statement on Monday that the crew is encouraged to contact Mission Control when they hear sounds and that the errant noise will not impact future operations.

“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, Sept. 6,” NASA said.

Wilmore and fellow astronaut Suni Williams, 58,have been in space for more than 80 days, after their planned eight-day foray into space aboard Starliner transitioned into a multi-month mission following Starliner’s mechanical issues.

Late last month,NASA announced that a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsulewould be the safest way to return the astronauts home — and that it would do so sometime in February.

“They’ll be able to handle it,” former colleague Scott Kelly, who spent hundreds of days in space himself,recently told PEOPLE.

The Starliner vehicle launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Florida’s Space Coast on June 5 sending the veteran astronauts to the International Space Station.

Shortly afterwards, NASA discovered the Starliner experienced helium leaks and its thrusters weren’t functioning amid the voyage.

The mechanical issuesinitially seemed minor, but NASA later determined Wilmore and Williams should stay at the ISS, where they’ve been conducting experiments andsharing tight sleeping quarterswith the seven other astronauts already there.

source: people.com