Space Station ISS gets space printers

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The ISS has two printers: an American Epson Stylus Color 800 and a Russian device. The space station crew uses them to print manuals and instructions, as well as photos and mails from the home front on earth.

Every month, crew members use about 1000 A4s. The United States printer is now almost twenty years old and replacing. For the past six years, he has already appealed, astronaut Don Pettit told US media.

NASA's NASA spacecraft organization sends two brand new specialized printers up early next year. They are specially modified versions of the Envy. Manufacturer HP has been working for years. The printers must be able to work in weightlessness, handle the ink and power and be flammable.

Paper must remain flat after printing, it should not fly away. In addition, ink bulbs should not be released and floated through the space station.

The NASA has ordered fifty special printers. Two of them go to the ISS, the other remain on earth as reserve.