Nasa explains 'spooky space sound' heard by stuck astronauts

Imagine being sent to the International Space Station (ISS), your transport home breaking down, and then hearing spooky sounds from your spaceship.

Well, that's what has happened to astronaut Butch Wilmore when he reported hearing strange noises coming from the faulty Boeing Starliner spacecraft that is currently docked on the ISS.

Butch and his colleague Sunita Williams are keeping a close eye on the Starliner after they used it to get to the ISS, only for it to conk out once they got there - meaning they will have to stay on the ISS until 2025.

Luckily the US space agency Nasa says the noises are nothing to worry about.

What was the strange sound coming from the Starliner?

The crew are said to be in good spirits up there and have plenty of jobs to do

Butch told mission control back on Earth he could hear "strange" sounds coming from the spacecraft over the weekend.

Nasa described the sound as a "pulsing" noise or a spacey "ping".

"I don't know what's making it," he said, and asked them to "scratch your heads and see if you can figure out what's going on and... call us if you figure it out".

So what was it?

'A pulsing noise or ping'

According to Nasa experts, the sound was feedback from the spaceship's audio system which connects lots of different ships.

"A pulsing sound from a speaker in Boeing's Starliner spacecraft heard by Nasa astronaut Butch Wilmore aboard the International Space Station has stopped," it said.

"The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner.

"It is common to experience noise and feedback," it added.

When are stuck astronauts coming back to Earth?

The astronauts came to the ISS on a Starliner ship, like this one blasting off

The Starliner is expected to head back to Earth in the coming days but, due to technical problems, it can't bring Butch and Suni with it.

Instead they're expecting to get a ride home on a SpaceX mission in February 2025.