3D Printer Installed As Space Station Preps For New Trio

By  //  November 18, 2014

3D Printer Extrudes Streams Of Heated Plastic

3D-PRINTER-NASA-580-1
Commander Barry WIlmore works on Monday to install a 3D printer inside the Destiny laboratory’s Microgravity Science Glovebox. (NASA TV image)

3D Printer Extrudes Streams Of Heated Plastic, Metal or Other Material, Building Layer On Top of Layer To Create 3 Dimensional Objects

NASA – Commander Barry Wilmore worked throughout Monday to install a 3D printer to get the International Space Station and future crews ready for self-sufficiency.

Wilmore will work to calibrate the printer and set up a demonstration of the additive manufacturing technology.

His fellow crew members, Flight Engineers Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova, worked on routine maintenance tasks and cargo transfers in the station’s Russian segment.

They also paired up for a cardiovascular exam on an exercise bike, sampled the station’s atmosphere and tested television downlink signals.

› Read about 3D Printing In Zero-G

The next trio to join Expedition 42 is in Kazakhstan counting down to a Nov. 23 launch aboard a Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft. They are set for a near six-hour ride to the International Space Station where they will live and work until May 2015.

EXPEDITION-42-580-1