Terrifying.
Just last week, NASA announced that the pair of astronauts stranded in space are set to remain up there until next year.
The news came after weeks of deliberation over what to do with the astronauts who have already had their mission duration extended ten fold.
Barry Wilmore, 61, and Sunita Williams, 58, left Earth on the 5 June with the International Space Station (ISS) as their destination aboard the Boeing-made Starliner spacecraft.
The astronauts’ mission was only meant to last eight days as they continued tests on Boeing’s first reusable space capsule as it underwent its maiden flight with pilots onboard.
Starliner was only intended to reach the ISS and dock for a few days before returning back to Earth, however technical issues with the spacecraft have meant that the crew have now been stranded in space for almost three months.
The unfortunate situation arose after technical problems befell the space capsule with engineers continuing to analyse data concerning faults with multiple of the ships thrusters when it approached for docking, and several helium leaks.
But now, a terrifying update has emerged, with those on board the Starliner reporting hearing ‘sonar like noises’ while on the vessel.
The strange noises have been described by some as sounding like heartbeats.
Taking to X, one user wrote: “Sorry but why isn’t absolutely every single person talking about the fact that those two astronauts that are stuck in Space are now hearing mysterious heartbeat sounds and no one know what it is.
“THIS ENTIRE STORY IS INSANE.”
Just over a week ago, NASA made the announcement everyone had been waiting for with administrator Bill Nelson speaking at a press conference where he said a manned return on Starliner would be too dangerous.
Nelson said: “Spaceflight is risky. Even at its safest, and even at its most routine. A test flight by nature is neither safe nor routine.”
Associate administrator Jim Free added: “The uncertainty in our [technological] margins is what drove our decision.”
With the overheating of Starliner’s thrusters as well as the leaks appearing to be connected to the frequency of their use, NASA’s commercial crew manager Steve Stich explained the decision on Saturday.
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He said: “The bottom line relative to bringing Starliner back is there was just too much uncertainty in the prediction of the thrusters.
“If we had a model, if we had a way to accurately predict what the thrusters would do for the undock and all the way through the deorbit burn and through the separation sequence, I think we would have taken a different course of action.
“But when we looked at the data and looked at the potential for thruster failures with a crew on board… it was just too much risk for the crew.“
Under their new strategy, NASA will now incorporate the two astronauts into their regularly scheduled crew aboard the ISS that rotate based on six-month stints.
This means only two new astronauts would be sent up on Space X’s Crew Dragon Capsule’s next delivery of crew in September to the space station with Wilmore and Williams making up the numbers as fully-fledged crew.
This would give the pair an estimated return date of February 2025.
The complications encountered by Boeing make up just another chapter in an ongoing saga of struggles throughout the company with continuous problems across its civil aviation division responsible for the 737 Max and the issues the aircraft has faced.
Boeing were awarded a $4bn contract from NASA over a decade ago to develop spacecraft for the organisation that has become more reliant on contracted spaceflight in recent years to help continue its missions and research.
