CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The 3-D printing boom is about to invade space. NASA is sending a 3-D printer to the international space station in hopes that astronauts will be able to one day fix their spacecraft by cranking out spare parts on the spot.
The printer, made by a California company called Made in Space, is among more than 5,000 pounds of space-station cargo that’s stuffed into a SpaceX Dragon capsule for a liftoff before dawn Saturday.
Besides real-time replacement parts at the station, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration envisions astronauts, in the de- cades ahead, making entire habitats at faraway destinations such as Mars.
The small 3-D printer on board is a demo unit meant to churn out sample items made from the same type of plastic used for Lego bricks. It was designed to operate safely in weightlessness inside a sealed chamber. The printing process is the same as on Earth, creating an object with layer upon layer of plastic.
