Prada Is Designing Spacesuits for a Forthcoming NASA Mission

“Cosmic” style has never been so literal — Prada is helping design spacesuits for an upcoming NASA mission. In partnership with Axiom Space, the company behind the world’s first commercial space station and the current purveyor of the spacesuits worn by NASA’s astronauts, Prada will be designing the suits for NASA’s Artemis III lunar mission — the first crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in December 1972 and the first-ever mission to place a woman on the moon — currently planned for 2025.

“While it doesn’t seem obvious what the technological reasons are for collaborating with a company like Prada, they’re more than just a fashion company. They actually do [several] technologically advanced things,” said Michael Suffredini, Axiom Space’s chief executive.

The collaborative suit is an expansion of the current Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) spacesuit in use by NASA astronauts. Prada’s main contribution to the new suit will come via the outer layers, which are essentially a lightweight covering that must protect the inner workings of suit from environmental challenges like lunar dust without hindering overall mobility. Prada marketing director Lorenzo Bertelli pointed to the Luna Rossa yachting team, created in the ’90s to compete for the America’s Cup, as an example of the company’s composite material know-how. “The suit, I think, is a perfect representation of something where you need a holistic approach,” Bertelli noted. “We have a lot of know-how in how to package fabrics together to create better mobility.”

At the time of writing, no detailed images of the suit have been made available. However, more are likely to surface soon. If you’re looking for more from the world of Prada while you wait, be sure to check out key looks from the Miu Miu SS24 runway show.