After Years of Waiting, NASA Has Finally Unveiled the Spacesuit for Its Moon Return. It Features an Unexpected Collaborator: Prada

In 2022, NASA decided to discontinue its own development of a spacesuit for the Moon mission and instead handed the task to a private company, Axiom Space. Recently, Axiom revealed the design, which is in collaboration with Prada, that astronauts will wear.

When NASA selected Axiom, the private space company was already working on its own spacesuits for a future commercial space station. However, designing a lunar suit that meets NASA’s specifications is more challenging than creating a suit for low Earth orbit. This complexity has led to project delays and recent adjustments in the design.

The Moon suit requires increased mobility in both the legs and torso, along with protection from abrasive lunar dust. It must be designed to accommodate both men and women, given that NASA aims to send the first woman to the Moon during the Artemis III mission, scheduled for September 2026. Additionally, the spacesuit needs to have an integrated life support backpack in the upper torso, which also allows astronauts to don the suit.

These specifications have shaped the final design of the Axiom Space suit, unveiled on Wednesday at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan, Italy. The AxEMU (Axiom Extra-Vehicular Mobility Unit) suit features various advancements in safety, mobility, fit, and performance, all while presenting a new design.

The most notable aspect of the spacesuit is that its outer shell and materials were developed in collaboration between Axiom and the Italian fashion house Prada. According to a recent press release, Prada contributed its “expertise on high-performance materials, features, and sewing techniques” to enhance the suit’s comfort and functionality.

As expected, the spacesuit will be white to reflect heat and protect astronauts from extreme temperatures. This color also aids in detecting fine lunar dust, which can be harmful to the lungs due to its razor-sharp particles. The helmet and visor also have special coatings to improve visibility, while the backpack is equipped with avionics, robust cooling systems, carbon dioxide scrubbing technology, and diagnostic tools.

Axiom said that its pressure suit will enable astronauts to conduct eight-hour extravehicular activities and explore the icy shadow regions of the lunar South Pole, where frozen water reservoirs are thought to exist, for at least two hours.

The AxEMU suit is now in its final development stage. It’ll undergo extensive testing at various facilities, including those at Axiom Space, NASA, and SpaceX, which is supplying the landers for the Artemis III and IV missions.

Testing will include underwater evaluations with astronauts at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Texas and integration tests with prototypes of the new lunar rover.

Image | Prada/Axiom Space

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