The signature of the spacesuits for the astronauts who will land on the moon will again be Prada’s signature: the Italian fashion house was chosen by the company Axiom Space for an unusual collaboration in the context of NASA’s Artemis missions, which entrusted the creation of the suits to a private American company as part of a contract worth 228.5 million $ awarded in September 2022. Prada will primarily assist Axiom with the outer layer of the spacesuit, which will need to protect the interior without impeding movement.
“The technological reasons for collaborating with a company like Prada are not clear, but it is more than just a fashion company: it is actually doing some things that lead to technological progress,” says Michael Suffredini, CEO of Axiom Space. Suffredini said he was interested in exploiting Prada’s expertise in composite materials: by using these materials in the torso and trouser parts of the tracksuit, in fact, they could be made much lighter, an improvement that would be very useful.
It is possible that Axiom’s collaboration with Prada will expand to include other projects, such as those involving a commercial space station, but for now all attention is focused on the suits. Its final appearance remains a mystery, as companies have released few details so far. “For the design of the outer layer, we will focus on functionality, but I think there will also be some room for creativity,” explains Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group Marketing Director.
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