Prada will design space suits for the 2025 Moon mission
Prada will support Axiom Space to design the space suits from the 2024 NASA mission to the moon. What expertise will the fashion company provide?
Through a recently announced partnership with Axiom Space, Prada, the Italian fashion house, will dip its toe in a new territory: space suits.
Axiom Space is a space technology company and government contractor that received the contract to design the space suits for the NASA mission to the moon planned for 2025.
Why have the two companies chosen to collaborate?
In a statement released by the company, Axiom CEO Michael Suffredini said Prada would support their team in designing the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit, which will be used in the Artemis III mission.
Prada was selected as a partner for the project based on the company’s “technical expertise with raw materials, manufacturing techniques, and innovative design concepts.” To improve the experience for the astronauts who will be making the historic journey, Suffredini sees the collaboration as a way to prioritize “the much-needed human factors considerations absent from legacy spacesuits” during the design process.
A closer look at the spacesuit that will be used for the mission
A prototype design of the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit was revealed earlier this year in March.
The newly developed spacesuits boast various features that will aid in the exploration of the lunar south pole and, eventually, Mars. The suits will resemble an individual spacecraft and feature all the essential systems to ensure the comfort and safety of the explorers, shielding them from temperature changes, radiation, and lunar regolith.
The suits also pack a powerful headlight, allowing the astronauts to see around them even where there is backlighting as they traverse the terrain and pick up as much as 100 kg of rocks. The suits will have more natural movement than their predecessors, including flexible-soled boots in the style of hiking shoes.
In the future, the same suit with a few modifications will be utilized for spacewalking on the International Space Station. The suit still includes a diaper as a precautionary measure in case the astronauts experience difficulty holding their bodily functions during their six-hour lunar excursions.