Stranded Starliner Crew Have Picked Up Mysterious Sonar Sound

One of the favorite aspects of the Alien franchise is that almost all of the films start with the following basic premise: “Hey, a mysterious beacon is emanating from that ominous planet/crashed ship… better go check it out!” And if you’ve ever seen any of the Alien movies, then you know how that turns out for usually all but one crew member.

The NASA astronauts who will be stuck on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft for over six months than originally planned — adding insult to the injury of literally being stranded in space — perhaps find themselves at the inciting incident of an Alien film, as the pair have reported hearing “strange noise” coming from the ship’s speaker system.

“I’ve got a question about Starliner. There’s a strange noise coming through the speaker … I don’t know what’s making it,” astronaut Butch Wilmore told Houston on Saturday, August 31.

Wilmore then tried to play the noise for Mission Control and was successful after the second try.

“Alright Butch, that one came through,” Mission Control responded. “It was kind of like a pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping.”

“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,” Wilmore replied.

“Yeah, that’s actual nightmare fuel,” said one viral response to the video of the sound.

“There are several noises I’d prefer not to hear inside my spaceship, including this one that Boeing Starliner is now making,” said a reply to the video with over 3 million views.

Reports indicate that the source of the sound came from a feedback loop between the speaker in the Boeing Starliner and the international space station.

The Boeing Starliner is set to return to Earth without its crew on September 6, with NASA citing the decision being made due to safety.

“Spaceflight is risky, even at its safest and most routine. A test flight, by nature, is neither safe, nor routine. The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring Boeing’s Starliner home uncrewed is the result of our commitment to safety: our core value and our North Star,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

Wilmore and co-astronaut Suni Williams are now scheduled to return to Earth aboard a Dragon spacecraft with two other members of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission in February 2025.