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I once heard an audio tape compiled from data downloads from a high rate accelerometer on the Olympus satellite, from which one could hear thruster firings, valve switching and reaction wheel operation.

Have astronauts reported hearing audible creaking sounds from any extended or docked structures? Its easy to imagine that the docking adaptors would be solid but that extremities such as antennas and solar arrays might transmit vibrations through the structure as their temperature changed through each orbit.

I'm less interested in the noises made by cyclic mechanical machinery such as fans.

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    $\begingroup$ I have heard (in interviews) comments about noise on the ISS - not very comfortable for the crew - so there must be a NASA study going on somewhere... $\endgroup$
    – Andy
    Mar 7, 2016 at 13:43
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    $\begingroup$ Yes, and I have seen youtube clips of the ISS and there seems to be a lot of internal background noise in some modules (not others) that sounds like running fans. I can imagine this wouldn't be good for one's peace of mind. In the question I am looking for a different phenomena. It might be that this has occurred in other systems - docked: Gemini/Agena, Apollo/LM, with solar arrays: Soyuz, Skylab, Salyut and just big: Shuttle. $\endgroup$
    – Puffin
    Mar 7, 2016 at 14:31
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    $\begingroup$ Ah so the question is interested specifically in sounds from thermal cycling or creaking between module connections? (There are some general studies like this ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20100039608.pdf but they seem to be mainly caused by fans and pumps.) $\endgroup$
    – Andy
    Mar 7, 2016 at 15:12
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    $\begingroup$ I can't be the only one wondering about this title - what does the Mary Celeste have to do with this? $\endgroup$
    – Chris
    Mar 9, 2016 at 17:28
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    $\begingroup$ In my imagination, discovering creaking sounds would bring upon the sense of being thoroughly isolated. Since writing the question I realised that in the first Skylab rescue and the Salyut 7 reactivation flight, both crews would have entered a dark eerie place. It doesn't take much to step from their to the discovery of the Mary Celeste. Sailing boats creak as a matter of course. Ok, everyone's imagination is different! I simply chose to ask about audible creaking rather than "do astronauts ever get the heebie jeebies". I will leave it a bit longer then perhaps add that to the question. $\endgroup$
    – Puffin
    Mar 9, 2016 at 20:21

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Yes. Thermal expansion/contraction does cause audible creaking.

For example, astronaut Nicole Stott explains that because of the changes in temperature on the surface of the modules, the spaces often echo with a startling creaking ("at first it is slightly alarming, but soon becomes familiar," she writes).

Astronaut Clayton Anderson:

Yes, the ISS makes noise all the time --those noises may include creaks, groans, hums, buzzes, beeps, clicks, squawks (from the various pumps, fans, switching valves and computers), and loud bangs (when spacewalking astronauts are crawling around on her outside, we hear it on the inside... it can be quite loud, but it indicates they are working and alive outside!)...

Ambient noise inside the station is comparable to that experienced from the lower decks of an aircraft carrier; somewhere in the 50 dB range if my memory serves me correctly. Essentially it is "white noise," which can be offset if needed by foam earplugs.

On BBC Stargazing 2016 episode 4 around 36:10, Chris Hadfield describes he could hear impacts from micrometeoroids, if he was near enough the metal of the hull.

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