The astronaut wears Prada: Axiom Space announces partnership with Italian fashion brand

ORLANDO, Fla. – When astronauts return to the moon, they’ll be doing so in style.

Italian luxury fashion house Prada and Axiom Space have announced they are working together to develop spacesuits for NASA’s Artemis III mission.

The mission, set for 2025, will send astronauts back to the lunar surface for the first time since the Apollo program.

[STORY CONTINUES BELOW]

[STORY CONTINUES BELOW]

According to an Axiom news release, Prada engineers will help design flexible yet durable suits that can withstand the rigors of space.

“We are thrilled to partner with Prada on the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit,” said Michael Suffredini, CEO of Axiom Space. “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.”

Last year, NASA tasked Axiom Space to design an advanced spacesuit for NASA that would allow astronauts to explore the Moon’s surface under a $228.5 million task order.

Photos released with the announcement only show the white cover layer of the Prada spacesuit prototypes.

Axiom will rely on the luxury brand’s technology and design methods to build on NASA’s current Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) suits.

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Artemis II, scheduled for November 2024, will send the four astronauts into space on a 10-day mission around the Moon.

If all goes smoothly, NASA hopes to put the first woman and first person of color on the surface of the Moon the following year.

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