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mendax writes:

NBC News is reporting in an article, with photos:

After a series of calibration tests, the first 3-D printer to fly to outer space has manufactured its first potentially useful object on the International Space Station: a replacement faceplate for its print head casing. [...]

The 9.5-inch-wide contraption was delivered to the space station by a robotic SpaceX Dragon cargo ship in September, and NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore set it up inside the station's experimental glovebox a week ago.

Since then, the crew has been printing out plastic test patterns, or "coupons," to check how the machine works in zero gravity. "Everything worked exactly as planned, maybe a little better than planned," Kemmer told NBC News. He said only two calibration passes were needed in advance of the first honest-to-goodness print job, which finished up at 4:28 p.m. ET Monday and was pulled out of the box early Tuesday.

The article points out the real value of a 3-D printer in space:

In space, astronauts may someday count on 3-D printers to make tools or spare parts from standard-issue feedstock, rather than having to rely on a stockpile of hardware flown up from Earth at a cost of $10,000 a pound. That capability will be particularly important for trips to Mars — because in deep space, it's hard to find a hardware store.

I take exception to the claim, however, that this first 3-D printed part is "it's really the first object truly manufactured off planet Earth" as claimed in the article. Would not the jury-rigged CO₂ scrubbers made by the Apollo 13 astronauts be the first?