The astronaut wears Prada: Fashion brand to help design NASA Artemis spacesuits

Axiom Space announced that it is partnering with Italian fashion brand Prada to design astronaut suits for NASA's Artemis missions to the Moon.

Prada will work with Axiom Space systems team through the design process, developing solutions for materials and design features. (Axiom Space)

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Prada can be seen in many places—movie sets, runways, and high streets. But now, the Italian fashion brand’s designs will be seen somewhere much farther away—on the Moon. Houston-based Axiom Space on Wednesday announced that it is joining hands with Prada on NASA’s lunar spacesuits for the Artemis III missions.

NASA selected Axiom Space in September 2022 to develop a moonwalking system for the Artemis 3 mission, which will put humans back on the surface of the Moon for the first time after 50 years. The contract had a base value of $228.5 million and was a task order to develop the next-generation Artemis spacesuit and supporting systems and to demonstrate their use on the lunar surface during Artemis 3.

Now, Prada’s engineers will work with Axiom Space systems team through the design process, developing solutions for materials and design features to protect against the challenging space and lunar environments.

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The AxEMU (Axion Extravehicular Mobility Unit) spacesuit will have advanced capabilities for space exploration while allowing astronauts to live and work on and around the Moon. The spacesuits will be designed for increased flexibility and greater protection to withstand the harsh environment while also offering specialised tools for exploration and science experiments.

NASA, in March this year, unveiled the prototype for what will be the next generation of spacesuits. With that, it was clear that the outfits worn by astronauts of the future would look very different from the bulky spacesuits of the Apollo program. AxEMU is designed to be more flexible with a greater range of motion and variability in size and fit.

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NASA Artemis