57.2 F
Clarksville
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Home International Space Station Expedition 42 Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore shows off a ratchet wrench made with a 3-D printer on the station. The wrench and other parts will return to Earth for testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. (NASA) International Space Station Expedition 42 Commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore shows off a ratchet wrench made with a 3-D printer on the station. The wrench and other parts will return to Earth for testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. (NASA)

International Space Station Expedition 42 Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore shows off a ratchet wrench made with a 3-D printer on the station. The wrench and other parts will return to Earth for testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. (NASA)

International Space Station Expedition 42 Commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore shows off a ratchet wrench made with a 3-D printer on the station. The wrench and other parts will return to Earth for testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. (NASA)

International Space Station Expedition 42 Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore shows off a ratchet wrench made with a 3-D printer on the station. The wrench and other parts will return to Earth for testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. (NASA)

The ratchet wrench was designed by Noah Paul-Gin, an engineer at Made In Space Inc., a northern California company that NASA contracted to design, build and operate the printer. Paul-Gin created a 3-D model of the ratchet and made several wrenches, such as the one shown here on an identical printer. (Made In Space)
International Space Station astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore holds a science sample container that took two hours to make. The container was the first object to be printed with two parts: a lid and a container. NASA wants to make science equipment in space, rather than launching it. (NASA)