WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

U.S. astronaut Barry (Butch) Wilmore is holding a 3-D coupon works with the new 3-D printer aboard the International Space Station. The 3D Printing experiment in zero gravity demonstrates that a 3-D printer works normally in space. In general, a 3-D printer extrudes streams of heated plastic, metal or other material, building layer on top of layer to create 3 dimensional objects. Testing a 3-D printer using relatively low-temperature plastic feedstock on the International Space Station is the first step towards establishing an on-demand machine shop in space, a critical enabling component for deep-space crewed missions and in-space manufacturing