In 1981, maybe, but there's a long time lag between design and flight for spacecraft. Cheap/light/sturdy dot matrix printers weren't yet available in the 1970s when the Shuttle was being designed. Nor had the idea of using commercial/off-the-shelf (COTS) components yet taken root. That would come years after the STS was already built and in service.
Fair point. But not so "last minute" that a pre-existing military design couldn't be investigated and reworked, custom print heads cast, etc. That puts it back to...what? 1979 or 1980? In that era, "let's build it to our exacting specifications, high tolerances, and unique mission requirements" pervaded NASA / aerospace engineering and procurement. However much we admire it today, COTS was not their way, and wouldn't be for at least another decade.
