NASA is getting ready to launch off to space a 3D printer by next year. It is a toaster sized tool that will help lessen the requirement for astronauts to load up every supply or spare part they need.

The 3D printers will be a flying factory of endless designs that will make items by layer from long strands of plastic all coiled within big spools. In the US Space Agency's laboratories, many engineers are creating 3D prints of tiny satellites that can go to the Space Station and transfer data straight to Earth. This goes the same for replacement parts and other essential rocket pieces that can survive even in the most extreme of temperatures.

The future mission though by 2014 will just be a demo printing job, as reported by Local 15 TV.

ABC News adds that for the first 3D printer space test, NASA prepared about a dozen machines that ranges from desktop models worth $300 and up to as big as the warehouse builders worth $500,000. The popular space agency even hired Made in Space, a startup from the Silicon Valley to build something different and new.

This is just one of the many proofs that NASA along with other space agencies around the world are working hard toward the concept of 3D printing. To master how to manufacture in space and learning how to produce food and water right within the universe, can eventually lead to potentially living up there in space.

On the other hand, Fox News recently reported that the newest delivery service of NASA has recently reached the International Space Station on Sunday after having been delayed for a week already. It delivered about a half ton worth of meals and other treats for the astronauts.

The astronauts were able to get the Cygnus capsule using a giant robotic arm. The succeeding one could fly out by Christmas time.