NASA Astronaut Reports Strange Sound Coming From Troubled Boeing Starliner

NASAs Mission Control is investigating a mysterious sound coming from inside Boeings troubled Starliner spacecraft after one of the two astronauts stranded in space due to issues with the spacecraft reported it.

NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore radioed Mission Control in Houston on Saturday to flag the sounds that he said were coming from a speaker inside the Starliner space capsule, Ars Technica first reported .

Ive got a question about Starliner, Wilmore says in a recording of his call, published by meteorologist Rob Dale. Theres a strange noise coming through the speaker. I dont know whats making it.

Wilmore was able to hold up his microphone toward the source of the sound, allowing Mission Control to hear it, too. 

It was kind of like a pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping, Mission Control said.

Wilmore allowed Mission Control to hear the sound again, and then asked them to call us if you figure it out.

A NASA representative did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment on Monday, but blamed the noise on the audio configuration between Starliner and the Space Station in a statement to a space-focused news outlet.

The space station audio system is complex, allowing multiple spacecraft and  modules to be interconnected, and it is common to experience noise and feedback, read the statement obtained by the website NASA Space Flight. It added that the noise has no technical impact to the crew, Starliner, or station operations, including Starliners planned return to Earth on Friday.

Wilmore and fellow astronaut Suni Williams have been stuck in orbit since June, vastly extending what was supposed to be a one-week mission after their Boeing spacecraft was deemed likely unsafe for travel.

The spacecraft, which has experienced helium leaks and failed thrusters, will return without passengers, and Wilmore and Williams will hitch a ride back to Earth on a Space X capsule sometime in February, NASA said.