The spacesuit design industry has officially entered high fashion arena after Axiom Space announced it has teamed up with Italian luxury fashion house Prada to design spacesuits to be worn by NASA astronauts on their next mission.
Houston-based Axiom Space was selected by NASA to design the Extravehicular Mobility Unit or AxEMU spacesuits that will be worn by the first astronauts to walk on the Moon in over 50 years during the Artemis III mission that is set to take place in 2025.
Axiom Space has already been working on the suit design, which includes life support and communication systems and the physical suits, since NASA selected the company to create the spacesuits back in June 2022. The company had revealed prototypes of the AxEMU spacesuits back in March… and now, Axiom Space has announced that a team of engineers from Prada will join the team working throughout the design process.
Axiom Space CEO Michael Suffredini said the Italian design house brings expertise in design and materials with more than 100 years in design innovation.
“We are thrilled to partner with Prada on the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit,” Suffredini said. “Prada’s technical expertise with raw materials, manufacturing techniques, and innovative design concepts will bring advanced technologies instrumental in ensuring not only the comfort of astronauts on the lunar surface, but also the much-needed human factors considerations absent from legacy spacesuits.”
Prada engineers will work with the Artemis III suit design team to develop solutions for materials and design features to protect against the lunar and space environments.
“The constantly forward-thinking ethos of Prada for humanity has broadened to his desire of adventure and to brave new horizons: space,” Prada Group Marketing Director Lorenzo Bertelli said in a statement. “We are honored to be a part of this historic mission with Axiom Space. Our decades of experimentation, cutting-edge technology and design know-how – which started back in the ‘90s with Luna Rossa challenging for the America’s Cup – will now be applied to the design of a spacesuit for the Artemis era. It is a true celebration of the power of human creativity and innovation to advance civilization.”
Looks like high fashion is going higher in 2025. In the meantime, stay tuned for the final results.
