Oct. 16 (UPI) — A new spacesuit for NASA’s Artemis III mission to the moon in September 2026 was unveiled Wednesday in Milan, Italy, featuring a “next-generation design” by Axiom Space and luxury fashion house Prada.
“Today marks a significant step on the path towards returning humans to the surface of the moon,” Russell Ralston, executive vice president of extravehicular activity at Axiom, told reporters.
Axiom and Prada unveiled the design of the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit — or AxEMU — suit Wednesday at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan.
“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,” said Matt Ondler, Axiom Space president.
“We have broken the mold,” Ondler added. “The Axiom Space-Prada partnership has set a new foundational model for cross-industry collaboration, further expanding what’s possible in commercial space.”
Prada played a large role in the appearance of the spacesuit and the production of “high-performance materials, features and sewing techniques,” which includes a white outer layer that reflects sunlight and heat, while keeping lunar dust from invading the interior.
“One of the things that was important to us was the appeal of the suit, the look of the suit,” Ralston said. “Something that Prada brought to the table was helping with the general aesthetic of the suit.”
Both Axiom and Prada agreed that NASA’s spacesuit should feature a prominent red stripe as a nod to NASA tradition, where the mission commander’s suit would have a red stripe to distinguish them from other space walkers. The red stripe is also a nod to Prada’s signature design.
The new spacesuit also allows “a lot more mobility” than the suits worn by Apollo astronauts more than a half-century ago, and will include health monitoring systems.
While the spacesuit design is nearly complete, it still needs to go through “a process of really intense testing.” The design can also be adapted for spacewalks in low Earth orbit from the International Space Station.
“We have a single architecture of a suit, basically a single design,” Ralston said. “All we have to do to go from an Artemis mission, to say, a low Earth orbit mission, is change the boots.”
“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,” said Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group chief marketing officer. “I’m sure we’ll continue to explore new challenges, broaden our horizons and build new scenarios together.”
