Space Station Live: 3D Printing in Space

NASA and Made in Space, Inc., are working to send a 3-D printer to the International Space Station. The 3-D printing in Zero-G technology demonstration experiment will show that a 3-D printer can work normally in space. A 3-D printer extrudes streams of heated plastic, metal or other material, building layer on top of layer to create three-dimensional objects. Testing a 3-D printer on the space station is the first step towards establishing a working machine shop in space, a critical component for astronaut missions and in-space manufacturing. This is the weekly Payload Operations Integration Center segment from Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and aired during Space Station Live on May 22, 2014.