But it isn't a mechanical noise. It is a noise coming through the speakers themselves. As many have pointed out, it is almost definitely feedback of some form.
Definitely something to get sorted before you do anything TOO critical (feedback can potentially be a precursor to electrical or systems failure) but not a sign that doors are going to fall off imminently.
It is a noise coming through the speakers themselves. As many have pointed out, it is almost definitely feedback of some form.
Like back in the day when leaving a 2G GSM phone next to some computer speakers, it would make certain buzzes as it was receiving a text message or phone call.
This happened to me at work, a coworker planted a listening device in a wooden mallard and gave it to me as a gift. He was trying to collect evidence against me for attempted blackmail. I put my phone next to it and heard the staticky feedback which gave it away.
Even if the doors won’t come flying off.. man that’s not what I would want to hear when I’m falling through space. Disconcerting is a good word for that.
Given that the greatest amount of issues they had back on the ground and which led to the program being months or years late were software problems, this does not surprise me the slightest.
The starliner is to return unmanned, according to this article. Can you imagine being on the ISS, and watching the ship you should have taken shred apart into burning rain as it attempts to pierce the veil of our atmosphere.
I think if the chances of a catastrophic re-entry is more than 1% and it still makes it back ok, I would still be happy i stayed back. Who knows what an additional 300lbs might do?
They're professional astronauts who have worked their whole lives for the opportunity to get into space. Both Butch and Sunny were probably doing the last mission of their career with this trip, so having it extended from 8 days to 8 months could well be a dream come true for them.
They were actually interviewed this last week and are very happy to stay. They're completing an unusually high number of scientific tests which were backlogged. This is, according to them, an awesome opportunity to work as their time in space is so restricted.
They’re holding up amazingly well, I don’t envy the astronauts right now.
strongly suspect they're coping well lol. You gotta understand that people fight for any chance into space, and an opportunity to turn a 2 day trip into 6+ months? yeah, it'll require last moment changes to their lives but I imagine they're happy as hell. They've been training for decades for this.
As I said elsewhere: They should bring up the managers who are responsible for this program up with a SpaceX capsule, and let them descend with the Starliner.
I would be very unhappy if I saw this spacecraft, that still has probably more than 95% chance of bringing me home safely if something happened, leave with no alternative in sight.
There is an alternative, in the event of disaster there's room on board the Dragon capsule currently docked at the station for them to come back down. They'd be strapped into the cargo hold rather than a seat, but that's acceptable in a disaster situation.
?? spacex is gonna get them home, this is hyperbole.
now, if they, like me, despise musk, that part might sting, but I strongly doubt these professionals are overly concerned with that end. I'd prefer my managers ERRING ON THE SIDE OF SURVIVAL, and considering the noises the craft suddenly started making, yeah, prudent decision after all.
Boeing doesn't like it, but... tsk, thrusters aren't new technology, this shit shouldn't have been a problem in the first place, and certainly never made it to ORBIT without being 99.999% reliable. Boeing fucked up. Boeing's thruster contractor - Rocketdyne - has been in the business since the 50s. This should be locked down, proven tech. Yet somehow startup spacex that doesn't have 50+ years in space is whipping the shit out of Boeing + Rocketdyne, EVEN THOUGH BOEING WAS PAID MORE THAN SPACEX, only for it to end in this shit show.
NASA errs on the side of caution and it's the right decision.
I thought the Great Exodus from xitter was a matter of critical mass not yet being attained. Enough readers have to be elsewhere to get journalists elsewhere.
No, I think it's just lazy journalists not learning new tools like Bluesky.
I enjoyed that very brief period when Elon blocked being able to view an embedded tweet at all without logging into twitter, before they changed it to how it is now, where you can only see that one tweet but no replies, etc.
Just for that week or however long it lasted, I was so hopeful that we'd reached the end of this kind of shoddy "journalism" ("Look, here are some tweets I saw today that are kind of related to the subject of this article's click-bait title").
Investigative journalism has just become scrolling social media online because nobody answers the phone or their door to give comments in person to the media. That's why I just post stupid, silly shit. I'm like that guy behind the "on the scene" reporter making faces and wrecking the shot.
I'm not qualified in any sense to speculate, and so that's exactly what I'm going to do.
My first thought is that there is a configuration happening to bring it home which we already knew, and there is a bug or test tone that was activated and since no one writing the code is there, they just didn't notice it is still running.
Ah the assumption that it was tested first before being deployed to prod. Given what we know now about Boeing's "testing" and "certification" processes, or lack thereof, that may be a big assumption.
I try to always remember People, process and product. PPP. It helps remind me that the people are just like you and I, families and waking up each day to do a job. It's so easy for things to fall apart when there aren't the right tools or processes in place. My failures individually or as a team never left someone in outer space but I've had some doozies in my career.
This isn't addressing your comment but I guess it was on my mind. I do know that the majority of people want to do their best and I feel bad for them and those affected by a company's poor decisions.
one that, if it's already malfunctioning thrusters begin malfunctioning worse, could fuck the entire station.... yeah. pucker factor 5/5 when it starts making wonky noises