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We know they have at least one printer on the ISS – that's NASA-supplied so it would be in the US Orbital Segment. Presumably there is a printer in the Russian Orbital Segment as well. (Mir had a teletype.)

My question is – what paper size do they use on the ISS – A4, US Letter, or a mix? I assume that if Roscosmos has a printer they'd want to load it with A4; but would NASA use A4 in their printer so the whole of ISS uses a standard paper size? Or would they stick to US Letter since that's what NASA is used to?

(Also, I guess there is some argument that something called the "International Space Station" ought to prefer the international standard paper size.)

Erin Anne
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Simon Kissane
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    different but related: Was this printer shown the ISS in 2015 built specially to work in microgravity? – uhoh Mar 25 '21 at 13:24
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    I like this question, but I can't help but wonder - what motivated you to ask it? – SF. Mar 25 '21 at 14:29
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    They use it to print out procedures, which on the ground are US letter, but I can't find anything to confirm that's what is used up there. Cool question! – Organic Marble Mar 25 '21 at 19:20
  • @SF Curiosity mainly. Also, I am interested in standards, and wonder if US dominance in space is going to lead to the US tendency to not use certain international standards to be exported to space and other celestial bodies. NASA and the commercial space industry presently prefer metric for anything in space (although I believe the US segment of ISS is metric for new stuff but still uses US customary for some older components), so that's one area in which it probably won't happen. But paper sizes is another. – Simon Kissane Mar 26 '21 at 08:14
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    IMO, a useful answer will primarily address the physical paper sizes available on the ISS, as virtually all "modern" printers can handle a plethora of formats... – Digger Apr 25 '21 at 14:33
  • Cool question! fyi I've just asked Was the teletype machine on MIR the first printer in space? Is there a photo, and what frequencies were used? – uhoh Jun 23 '21 at 09:04
  • I found a Forbes and TechCrunch article that act like everything is more or less normal when it comes to the ink and the paper. The only really crazy things that had to be done to the printer included a system that prevented droplets of ink from floating off and contaminating the station. Here are the articles: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferhicks/2018/04/12/see-how-this-printer-works-in-zero-gravity-on-the-international-space-station/?sh=1d4951771a12 & https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/02/the-international-space-station-is-getting-a-new-printer/ – Jonathan L. Jun 23 '21 at 19:32
  • Since there's no answer yet, you might try asking HP. – Greg Miller Mar 30 '22 at 02:41
  • The paper size would probably synchronized to the electronic document they produce. So if you could hunt down some document that is known to have been printed on ISS, the file would include the format information. – user3528438 Feb 20 '23 at 16:33
  • Is the fact that NASA has gone metric relevant here? – hdhondt Feb 20 '23 at 22:41
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    @Starshipisgoforlaunch please stop making inconsequential edits to the question. "My" is fine. "So, my" isn't different (and I know for a fact that there are people who consider it incorrect). – Erin Anne Feb 22 '23 at 19:33

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Although one cannot exclude other paper sizes being sometimes used, US astronauts on the ISS definitely used A4 paper.

I cannot find any mention or clear images of US letter-sized paper on the ISS.

Despite being somewhat embarrassed to ask, I submitted a question to NASA about this, and several weeks later received an unhelpful boilerplate answer that just pointed me to various ISS websites.

David Bailey
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  • Great reference! – Organic Marble Oct 11 '23 at 16:30
  • Great source! I also found "Color Printer Paper (6 Hole, 1/4" Dia.)" on page 421, Green Record Book 8 x 10.5 lined, Metric Pad Assembly Green, Drawing Paper 14x17 white (page 453), and 8x5 inch toilet paper. I'm skeptical of IDing A4 paper instead of letter in a photo (A4 is 8.3 x 11.7 inches, versus 8.5 x 11 inch letter paper) but it is SO GOOD to have a proper answer to this question now – Erin Anne Oct 13 '23 at 04:15
  • Thanks @Erin-Anne. I agree the visual identification might not be 100% certain, but I actually measured (i.e. counted pixels) the sizes. The paper in the Scott Kelly images seems clearly inconsistent with letter-sized and consistent with A4. The Shane Kimbrough paper size is more consistent with A4 than letter sized, but it isn't unambiguous since there are several overlapping and imperfectly aligned sheets on the pad. – David Bailey Oct 13 '23 at 14:19