Prada Just Unveiled the New Spacesuit NASA Astronauts Will Wear to the Moon
Prada just took another giant leap into the space industry.
The fashion house has teamed up with the folks at Axiom Space once again to unveil the inner-layer garment that will be donned by NASA astronauts heading to the moon. The pair had previously unveiled spacesuits for the next lunar mission, which it debuted back in 2024.
Tapping into Prada’s engineered knitting know-how, the new Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment (LCVG) was developed via advanced 3-D modeling techniques that help out with cooling—an highly important task, given that astronauts generate an insane amount of metabolic heat while in space. To combat this, the high-performance suit circulates cold water through a series of tubes that pass over all the major muscle groups, absorbing and carrying heat as it travels to the suit’s portable-life system. From there, the heat will be expelled into space, ensuring that the wearer remains cool during spacewalks of up to eight hours. The new layer also provides plenty of ventilation via tubes that deliver oxygen across the astronaut’s face while also washing away any exhaled CO2.
NASA astronauts will wear the new inner layer underneath the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility (AxEMU) spacesuit. The sporty-look suit was made to withstand all the extremes of space itself, including thermal temperatures, lunar dust, and more. The design is home to a helmet and visor that protect the wearer from solar radiation, along with custom gloves and boots that allow the astronauts to go on spacewalks of up to eight hours. In addition to all that tech, Prada lets its style shine through with its signature Linea Rossa red popping up all over the suit—a similar detail that can be spotted on the LCVG, too. The fashion house’s expertise with high-performance materials also helped out with the design, allowing the team to source the specialized fibers that let astronauts don the snug layer again and again on long missions.
“The future of space exploration will not be built by any one entity alone, and our partnership with Prada is proof of that,” Jonathan Cirtain, Axiom Space’s CEO and president, said in a statement. “By bringing together the best in both aerospace engineering as well as luxuryLuxuryA lifestyle defined by exceptional quality, craftsmanship, exclusivity, and sophistication, encompassing the finest products, services, and experiences that represent the highest standards of refinement and excellence.Go to Luxury Glossary craftmanship and advanced product development, we have developed a garment that neither company could have created independently, and that is exactly the kind of cross-industry thinking that will define the next era of human spaceflight.”
As for when astronauts are excepted to return to our celestial neighbor, NASA currently has its Artemis IV mission planned for 2028. A crew of four astronauts will hop aboard the organization’s Orion spacecraft for the journey, which will result in them spending about a week on the moon’s South Pole before heading back to Earth. If the expedition succeeds, it will mark the first time humans have stepped foot on the moon in over 50 years—and they’ll look plenty stylish while doing it.
This article originally appeared in Robb Report US.