Astronauts walking on the moon as part of NASA’s first human mission to the lunar South Pole will be wearing Prada, as part of a new venture unveiled on Wednesday. Private space company Axiom Space teamed up with the Italian luxury brand to provide the surface suits and spacewalk systems for NASA’s Artemis 3 mission, which is planned for September 2026. The external layer of the space suit, designed to reflect heat, is largely white, as it was on the suits worn by the Apollo astronauts who last walked on the moon more than 50 years ago.

But the update will have a few touches of grey and some red stripes similar to those seen on Italy’s Luna Rossa America’s Cup boat, which was also sponsored by Prada. Matt Ondler, president of Axiom Space, told a press launch in Milan that making the suit had required “extreme engineering” and “fantastic manufacturing capability”. “They will go in places that are incredibly hazardous, extreme environments,” he said. “One of the missions that NASA wants to do is to try to find water craters at the South Pole. These are some of the coldest places in the universe. And so this suit has to be designed very cleverly.” At the lunar South Pole, a land of mountains and deep craters, the sun hovers below or just above the horizon.

The AxEMU suit patches are pictured during a press conference of Prada and Axiom Space.

The AxEMU suit is pictured during a press conference of Prada and Axiom Space, as part of the presentation of the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit designed and developed for the Artemis 3 lunar mission in collaboration with Prada.

As a result, temperatures vary from upwards of 54 degrees Celsius (130 degrees Fahrenheit) in sunlit periods to minus 203 degrees Celsius (minus 334 degrees Fahrenheit) in shadowed areas that have never see the sun, NASA says. The suit aims to provide maximum comfort to the astronauts, the team said, while also protecting them against radiation, external pressure and provide the power and oxygen they need for up to eight hours of moonwalks.

With the mission set to see the first woman on the moon, the suits are also unisex and can be adapted to different sizes. “We’ve blended engineering, science and art to produce the ultimate garments for future moonwalkers, ensuring that astronauts can perform their tasks and missions in safety and comfort,” said Russell Ralston, Axiom spacesuit program manager. The design of the boots was a particular challenge, in terms of insulation and to make them robust enough for the terrain. But the materials used are “confidential”, said Lorenzo Bertelli, marketing manager for Prada and the son of the fashion house’s founder, Miuccia Prada. — AFP