Prada & Axiom Space Bridge Science and Fashion Together
Tiya Antony
Fashion News Editor
Fashion luxury house Prada and Space company of Axiom Space have collaborated to create a gender neutral, and one size fits all spacesuit. The design was unveiled at the International astronautical congress that took place in October in Milan. The designed spacesuit was created for NASA’s Artemis III moon mission that is scheduled to occur in 2026.
The suit is mostly white, and the top is a cropped piece. There are grey patches of fabric on the elbows and knees. The suit features red accent lines throughout the suit to add a touch of the classic Prada red trademark. The red line is used in their branding to represent a limit to surpass and the power one has to reach greater heights. Russel Ralston, the executive vice president of Axion Space stated that “This is a groundbreaking partnership” because it combines engineering, aeronautics, science, and the art of fashion.
The suit has engineered boots which allows for 8 hours of spacewalk. The material of the suit reflects heat in order to protect astronauts from extreme temperatures. Additionally, the suit allows for protection from harsh environmental conditions such as lunar dust.
For this collaboration, Prada brought in their expertise about sewing techniques and textile production to improve astronaut spacesuit mobility, flexibility, performance, and safety. The luxury fashion house is also able to afford the expenses and has a large consumer outreach. Some technical design components of the suit are the HD camera, communication systems, in suit nutrition, and lighting.
Prada and Axion Space’s collaboration has been in the works since 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic. Specific Prada employees working on this product have been traveling between Milan, Prada’s headquarters, and Houston, Axiom’s headquarters for the past few years.
NASA’s Artemis III mission is planned for 2026 and is the first astronaut moon landing since 1972 with Apollo 17. A successful trip will be history making as the first women and first person of color get to walk on the moon. The planned Artemis III mission is continuing NASA’s dream of trips to the moon, which has been continuously delayed numerous times due to technical delays, funding problems, and space-suit design issues. This collaboration is broadening the horizon of fashion working with science and technology to allow for greater adventures to advance civilization.
Contact Tiya at antonyti@shu.edu