3-D printer being sent to the International Space Station

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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 Northern California company called Made in Space, is among more than 5,000 pounds of space station cargo thats stuffed into a SpaceX Dragon capsule that was supposed to lift off before dawn Saturday. Rainy weather forced SpaceX to delay the launch until Sunday.

Besides real-time replacement parts at the station, NASA envisions astronauts, in the decades ahead, making entire habitats at faraway destinations like Mars.

If were really going to set up shop on Mars, we have to do this, Jeff Sheehy, NASAs senior technologist, said Friday. We really cant afford to bring everything we need for an indefinite amount of time. Well need to get to the point where we can make things that we need as we go.

At Kennedy Space Center, the company showed off a number of objects made by its 3-D printers. On display was a scaled-down model of an air filter that the Apollo 13 astronauts devised to survive their aborted moon mission in 1970. It took five hours to print the model in a lab.

SpaceX is making the supply run for NASA, the same California company that just won a huge contract to deliver U.S. astronauts to the space station. Its Falcon 9 rocket with an unmanned Dragon is scheduled to blast off at 1:52 a.m. Sunday; slightly better weather is expected.

This April 2014 photo provided by NASA shows a 3-D printer after it passed flight certification and acceptance testing at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.Photo: AP

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.

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3-D printer being sent to the International Space Station

SpaceX readies Dragon for launch to space station

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A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship during berthing last year at the International Space Station. SpaceX plans to launch its fourth operational station resupply mission early Saturday. SpaceX

SpaceX engineers loaded last-minute equipment and research gear aboard a Dragon cargo ship Friday, setting the stage for launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket early Saturday on a two-day flight to the International Space Station.

Loaded with more than 5,100 pounds of cargo, including 20 mice in a compact habitat, spacesuit batteries, an experimental 3D printer, IMAX cameras and an instrument to measure ocean wind speeds, the Dragon cargo craft was scheduled for liftoff from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 2:14 a.m. EDT Saturday, roughly the moment Earth's rotation carries the pad into the plane of the space station's orbit.

Assuming an on-time launch, the Dragon cargo ship is expected to rendezvous with the space station early Monday, pulling up to within about 30 feet and standing by while the lab's robot arm locks on around 7:30 a.m. and pulls the capsule in for berthing at the Earth-facing port of the forward Harmony module.

If all goes well, the spacecraft will remain attached to the station until around Oct. 18, returning to a Pacific Ocean splashdown, bringing some 3,800 pounds of research samples and equipment back to waiting scientists and engineers.

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For the first time humans will be able to build tools in space. The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft, scheduled to launch on Saturday, will carry a 3D p...

Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of mission assurance at SpaceX, told reporters Friday the rocket and capsule were in good shape and ready for flight, but forecasters predicted a 50 percent chance of rain and thick clouds that could force a 24-hour delay. The outlook for Sunday calls for a 70 percent chance of acceptable weather, and a third launch opportunity may be available next Tuesday if needed.

If the Dragon is not off the ground by then, SpaceX will have to stand down until Sept. 28 to make way for the launch of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying three fresh crew members to the outpost. The Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft, carrying commander Alexander Samokutyaev, flight engineer Elena Serova and NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore, is scheduled for launch Sept. 25 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Joining station commander Maxim Suraev, European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA flight engineer Reid Wiseman, the combined six-member Expedition 41 crew faces a particularly busy Fall schedule, unloading the SpaceX cargo ship, repacking it with samples and equipment for return to Earth, capturing an Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo craft in mid October and carrying out three spacewalks Oct. 7, 15 and 22.

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SpaceX readies Dragon for launch to space station

Astronauts getting 3-D printer at space station

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) 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 Northern 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 that was supposed to lift off before dawn Saturday. Rainy weather forced SpaceX to delay the launch until Sunday.

Besides real-time replacement parts at the station, NASA envisions astronauts, in the decades ahead, making entire habitats at faraway destinations like Mars.

"If we're really going to set up shop on Mars," we have to do this, Jeff Sheehy, NASA's senior technologist, said Friday. "We really can't afford to bring everything we need for an indefinite amount of time. We'll need to get to the point where we can make things that we need as we go."

At Kennedy Space Center, the company showed off a number of objects made by its 3-D printers. On display was a scaled-down model of an air filter that the Apollo 13 astronauts devised to survive their aborted moon mission in 1970. It took five hours to print the model in a lab.

SpaceX is making the supply run for NASA, the same California company that just won a huge contract to deliver U.S. astronauts to the space station. Its Falcon 9 rocket with an unmanned Dragon is scheduled to blast off at 1:52 a.m. Sunday; slightly better weather is expected.

Other Dragon payloads high on the cool or curious factor: a mouse X-ray machine and 20 mice; 30 fruit flies expected to have a population explosion in orbit, metal plating samples for a private research effort to build stronger golf clubs, and a $30 million instrument to measure the surface wind over Earth's oceans and improve hurricane forecasting.

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.

Read the original:

Astronauts getting 3-D printer at space station

Boeing and SpaceX win the race to build ‘space taxis’ for NASA – Video

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Boeing and SpaceX win the race to build #39;space taxis #39; for NASA
The US Space Agency "NASA":http://www.nasa.gov/ has chosen Boeing and California #39;s SpaceX to develop a new system to take American astronauts into space. The companies will build and and operate...

By: euronews (in English)

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Boeing and SpaceX win the race to build 'space taxis' for NASA - Video

NASA Picks SpaceX And Boeing To Resume U.S. Human Spaceflight, After Retiring Space Shuttle Fleet – Video

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NASA Picks SpaceX And Boeing To Resume U.S. Human Spaceflight, After Retiring Space Shuttle Fleet
NASA announced Tuesday that Elon Musk #39;s SpaceX and Boeing have won a $6.8 billion contract to resume human spaceflight. Don Ford reports. (9/16/14)

By: CBS SF Bay Area

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NASA Picks SpaceX And Boeing To Resume U.S. Human Spaceflight, After Retiring Space Shuttle Fleet - Video