NASA recently was forced to close its website, like many other government agencies, due to a temporary U.S. government shutdown – but that is not keeping the space agency from looking forward.

News comes that NASA plans to include a 3D printer on a space launch in 2014 – the first time ever, according to the BBC.

The printer – which is about the size of a microwave oven – will allow astronauts on the space station to build spare parts and tools in space. It was seen as a possible cost-saving measure.

The 3D will be made by a startup company called Made in Space.

"Imagine an astronaut needing to make a life-or-death repair on the International Space Station," Aaron Kemmer, Made in Space CEO, told the BBC. "Rather than hoping that the necessary parts and tools are on the station already, what if the parts could be 3D printed when they needed them?"

"As NASA ventures further into space, whether redirecting an asteroid or sending humans to Mars, we'll need transformative technology to reduce cargo weight and volume," NASA administrator Charles Bolden explained while at the Ames Research Center.  "In the future, perhaps astronauts will be able to print the tools or components they need while in space.”

Consider the events surrounding the Apollo 13 flight in 1970 when astronauts struggled to make a carbon dioxide filter. They used a plastic bag, a manual cover and gaffer tape, the BBC said. Now, a 3D printer would be the ideal device to make such a filter, quickly.

"If you want to be adaptable, you have to be able to design and manufacture on the fly, and that's where 3D printing in space comes in,'' Dave Korsmeyer, director of engineering at the Ames Research Center, told the BBC.

In addition, NASA may soon use 3D-printing small satellites. They could be launched from the space station and send data back to Earth.