Be Seen, Be Heard, Be Moon-Bound

In perhaps the most unlikely syncretism of practicality and ostentation, Italian luxury fashion marque Prada will collaborate with Axiom Space, the Houston, Texas-based space infrastructure development concern, in the design and manufacture of the spacesuits in which the Artemis III astronauts will journey to and possibly land on Earth’s moon.

While Artemis III has been widely and loudly touted as an exercise in identity politics comprising, incidentally, the first manned lunar landing since 1972’s Apollo 17 mission, NASA officials conceded in August 2023 that Artemis III planners may forgo the moon landing and restructure the mission after the fashion of a crewed excursion to the Lunar Gateway—a planned lunar orbital station.  

Axiom Space CEO Michael Suffredini stated: "We are thrilled to partner with Prada on the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit. 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."

The human factors to which Mr. Suffredini alluded remain undisclosed.

Axiom and Prada engineers will cooperate throughout the spacesuits’ developmental process, jointly evolving materials and feature solutions germane to the unique challenges endemic to the lunar environment.

Prada Group Marketing Director Lorenzo Bertelli remarked: “The constantly forward-thinking ethos of Prada for humanity has broadened to his desire of adventure and to brave new horizons: space. We are honored to be a part of this historic mission with Axiom Space.”

Signore Bertelli added: “Our decades of experimentation, cutting-edge technology, and design know-how—which started back in the ‘90s with Luna Rossa challenging for the America’s cup—will now be applied to the design of a spacesuit for the Artemis era. It is a true celebration of the power of human creativity and innovation to advance civilization.”

The AxEMU spacesuit will provide astronauts advanced capabilities conducive to space exploration, while offering NASA commercially-developed systems essential to accessing, living, and working in space and on the moon.

Evolutions of NASA’s proprietary Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) spacesuit design, Axiom’s spacesuits are designed and built to provide increased flexibility, greater protection against inhospitable space and lunar environs, and tools specialized for exploration and scientific endeavors. By dint of their advanced materials and innate technologies, the spacesuits born of the Axiom-Prada partnership will enable greater exploration of the lunar surface than ever before—so state Axiom and Prada.

FMI: www.axiomspace.com