Not just a fashion statement: Prada enters the space race, co-designing suit for Artemis III moon mission

Axiom Space has teamed up with luxury clothing brand Prada to design a new space suit that's set to land among the stars. Well, Earth's nearest neighbour, at least. It's all in aid of the Artemis III mission slated for 2026—the first time NASA will return to the surface of the moon since Apollo 17 back in 1972.

The new space suit is called the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU), and Axiom Space has been working on it since at least 2022. The announcement of the Italian fashion house's involvement is a surprise—so how involved is Prada, really?

A detailed press release from Axiom Space (via The Verge) states that Prada had the most involvement with the suit's covering outer layer, highlighting the 111-year-old company's textile knowledge and production expertise. But essentially, Axiom's engineers liaised with Prada's product development team chiefly for material recommendations for that outer layer.

The engineers also picked up a few pointers on how to construct the space suit to ensure that astronauts will be comfortable while wearing it during multi-hour spacewalks. Almost everything else has been built by Axiom Space, including a "regenerable carbon dioxide scrubbing system," which I just think is extremely cool.

Prada's group chief marketing officer Lorenzo Bertelli commented that it is "just the first step in a long-term collaboration," going on to add, "We’ve shared our expertise on high-performance materials, features, and sewing techniques, and we learned a lot. I’m sure we’ll continue to explore new challenges, broaden our horizons, and build new scenarios together."

Ultimately, Prada's involvement is skin-deep, though still shouldn't be overlooked. Too often fashion is dismissed as little more than frippery, but even the most cursory look at fashion's role throughout history proves it has always been a powerful storytelling tool. So, what story is Axiom trying to weave through the news of this collaboration?

Axiom Space's executive vice president of extravehicular activity, Russell Ralston, puts it most plainly in the press release, “We are pioneering a new era in space exploration where partnerships are imperative to the commercialization of space.”

Though the press release highlights the suit's 'anthropomorphic sizing' that claims to fit a wide variety of bodies, not all of us are going to be astronauts. The involvement of Prada isn't solely to spark the public's imagination, but also to prick up the ears of would-be investors who not only want to hop aboard the 'commercialization of space' rocket, but see their name along the side of it too.