An astronaut stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) has reported a “strange noise” coming from the faulty spacecraft that led him to be stuck there.

Butch Wilmore, a Nasa test pilot, contacted the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, on Saturday. He reported a concern with the Boeing Starliner pod, which encountered a problem during its journey to the ISS in June.

Wilmore and colleague Sunita Williams travelled to the ISS in the pod for a planned one-week mission – but must now spend at least eight months there until a different craft can bring them back.

Wilmore told mission control: “I’ve got a question about Starliner. There’s a strange noise coming through the speaker and I didn’t know if you can connect into the Starliner … I don’t know what’s making it.”

Mr Wilmore played the sound to Nasa officials on Earth by holding his phone up to the Starliner speaker.

“Butch, that one came through,” mission control told him. “It was kind of like a pulsating noise, almost like a sonar ping.”

After playing the sound again, the astronaut told them: “I’ll let you figure it out.”

“Good recording, thanks Butch,” mission control replied. “We will pass it onto the team and let you know what we find.”