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It’s one giant leap for fashion as Prada spacesuits head to the moon

Trevor Mogg
By
Tech For Change
This story is part of Tech for Change: an ongoing series in which we shine a spotlight on positive uses of technology, and showcase how they're helping to make the world a better place.

When NASA’s two Artemis astronauts step onto the lunar surface in the next few years, the world will be watching. The highly anticipated mission will mark the first crewed landing in more than five decades and will see the first woman and first person of color reaching the lunar surface.

And so with all that attention, the astronauts will want to be looking their absolute best.

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Enter luxury fashion brand Prada, which has partnered with Axiom Space to design the spacesuits for the Artemis III mission that’s currently scheduled for 2025.

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OK, Prada’s involvement is all about looking great in space. The company also has experience in using technology to create robust materials.

“Embedded in the culture of the company is much more than fashion,” Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada’s marketing director, said in comments reported by Space News, adding that it “actually does quite a bit of technologically advanced things.” Bertelli cited the fashion giant’s long-running experience with, for example, composite materials that emerged from its creation of the Luna Rossa yachting team for the America’s Cup in the 1990s.

Prada will focus on designing the outer layer of the spacesuit, which has to be tough enough to handle problematic lunar dust while also allowing the astronaut to move freely.

Technical aspects aside, everyone from space enthusiasts to dedicated followers of fashion will be keen to see what the final suit looks like. While Axiom Space unveiled a prototype suit in March, its collaboration with Prada means we can expect to see some changes when the final design is revealed.

Bertelli said teasingly that while the main focus is on functionality, “there are areas where you feel there will be a bit of room for creativity.”

Axiom Space CEO Michael Suffredini claimed the spacesuit will look “very unique compared to what spacesuits formerly looked like.”

NASA selected Axiom Space in September 2022 to develop spacesuits and support systems for the Artemis III mission. Suffredini said that NASA has been supportive of Axiom Space’s partnership with Prada, commenting: “They’ve been very receptive to everything we’ve done so far in the suit world and are open to this as well.”

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Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
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