When it leaves the International Space Station next Friday, Boeing’s troubled Starliner crew capsule may not be going quietly into the night. The spacecraft started making a funny noise on Saturday shortly after it was announced that Boeing would attempt to return the vehicle autonomously to Earth on Sept. 6. Astronaut Butch Wilmore, who rode Starliner to the ISS three months ago on an eight-day mission with Suni Williams, heard a strange pulsing noise coming through a speaker that he played for mission control. “Alright Butch, that one came through,” capcom told Wilmore. “It was kind of like a pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping.” A recording of the sound was posted by Michigan meteorologist Rob Dale.
As of Sunday evening there was no update on the source of the sound or whether it will affect the tentative schedule for recovery of the capsule. Starliner has to leave to make room for a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that will bring two astronauts to the ISS later in September. It was supposed to carry four people but the mission has been changed to include Wilmore and Williams. They will replace the two crew left behind and work on the ISS until February when they will finally hitch a ride home.
Meanwhile, Starliner’s recovery attempt is by no means routine. The software had to be changed to accommodate the crewless reentry. Starliner was designed to always have people onboard and the decision to send it back to Earth unoccupied had not been envisioned. That decision was made last week when NASA decided it wasn’t safe to send Williams and Wilmore home on it. Starliner has suffered helium leaks and thruster failures since launching on June 13. It is planned to parachute to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico after reentry.
