Astronauts travelling to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program will go there in style as Axiom Space taps luxury brand Prada to assist in the design of its spacesuit.
On Wednesday, Axiom Space announced its collaboration with Prada to design NASA’s lunar spacesuits for the Artemis 3 mission, which is scheduled to launch in 2025.
“The constantly forward-thinking ethos of [founder Mario] Prada for humanity has broadened to his desire of adventure and to brave new horizons: space,” Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada’s group marketing director, said in a statement.
It’s an unlikely pairing, but one that hopes to bring an added layer of comfort to the first group of astronauts set to land on the Moon since the days of Apollo. “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,” Michael Suffredini, CEO of Axiom Space, said in a statement.
Engineers at Prada will work alongside the team at Axiom Space throughout the design process, “developing solutions for materials and design features to protect against the unique challenge of space and the lunar environment,” Axiom wrote.
Earlier this year, Axiom Space unveiled the first prototype of its next generation spacesuit. AxEMU, or Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit, was developed with the legacy of NASA spacesuits in mind while incorporating new technology, more mobility, and protection from the lunar environment. The spacesuits appeared to have a more modern, slick look and were also designed to give astronauts more flexibility on the lunar surface.
The new spacesuit design was developed as part of a $US228.5 million Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) contract, although Axiom Space will retain ownership of the suit and can seek out commercial customers to use it.