NASA, Axiom, and Prada have unveiled a new space suit that will be used for a mission to the Moon in 2026.
The suits, costing about $100,000 (£76,000) each to make, have been designed and produced as part of a mega $228million (£175million) deal.
Matt Ondler, Axiom Space president, said: “Our elite teams have redefined spacesuit development, establishing new pathways to innovative solutions and applying a state-of-the-art design approach for the AxEMU.
“We have broken the mold. The Axiom Space-Prada partnership has set a new foundational model for cross-industry collaboration, further expanding what’s possible in commercial space.”
Russell Ralston, executive vice president of extravehicular activity at Axiom, added: “Today marks a significant step on the path towards returning humans to the surface of the moon.
“One of the things that was important to us was the appeal of the suit, the look of the suit. Something that Prada brought to the table was helping with the general aesthetic of the suit.”
Prada played a key role in the design of the suit, giving it a red stripe in tribute to Nasa as well as Prada’s iconic design, “high-performance materials, features and sewing techniques”, and a white outer layer that keeps out heat and dust on the Moon.
However, the suit still needs to go through extensive testing to make sure it is suitable for a mission on the Moon.
Mr Ralston continued: “We have a single architecture of a suit, basically a single design. All we have to do to go from an Artemis mission, to say, a low Earth orbit mission, is change the boots.
Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group chief marketing officer, continued: “I’m very proud of the result we’re showing today, which is just the first step in a long-term collaboration with Axiom Space.
“I’m sure we’ll continue to explore new challenges, broaden our horizons, and build new scenarios together.”
