To fulfill the practical requirements of constructing large-size structures in orbit for extraterrestrial exploration and space station trusses, a direct in-orbit strip-orming method was proposed, alongside the development of a small, lightweight and low-power metal pipe fitting manufacturing equipment. Based on Kirchhoff hypothesis and the principle of equivalent strain energy, a nonlinear mechanical model of bending and winding was established to analyze the influence of different parameters on the winding torque. The ABAQUS/explicit solver was used to solve the winding torque and validate the effectiveness of the analytical model. The winding and locking performances were described and optimized by defining three performance indexes, namely stable winding moment, positive locking pressure, and maximum locking edge stress in a quantitative manner. The lower the indexes, the higher the winding locking performance. The polynomial surrogate model of the index parameters for the curved winding pipe was established using the response surface method, and the metal pipe bending was sujected to multi-objective optimization design through an improved non-dominated genetic algorithm (NSGA-II). The optimization results demonstrate a reduction of 26.23% in the winding torque, a decrease of 4.71% in positive pressure at the locking edge, a decline of 2.14% in maximum stress at the locking edge, and an enhancement in the fluctuation of the torque curve. A prototype for winding locking was developed, featuring a roller seat with a diameter of 70 mm, a roller group spacing of 100 mm, and a locking groove bending box with a corrective adjustment function, along with a core shaft diameter of 50 mm. The experimental results demonstrate the impact of various process parameters on rolling forming and elucidate the relationship between forming angle and pipe fitting diameter during spiral forming. The findings of this study offer a crucial theoretical and experimental foundation for the implementation of metal tube forming in orbit.