MILAN — In what was characterized by all parties as a historic moment, Prada and Axiom Space unveiled on Wednesday the spacesuit that will be used for NASA’s Artemis III lunar mission.
In October last year, WWD revealed Prada was collaborating with Axiom Space, the architect of the world’s first commercial space station, in a groundbreaking partnership between an Italian luxury fashion house and a commercial space company.
At the International Astronautical Congress in Milan, Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group chief marketing officer and head of corporate social responsibility, expressed his pride in the reveal of the spacesuit. And there is more to come, he pointed out. “This is just the first step in a long-term collaboration with Axiom Space. We’ve shared our expertise on high-performance materials, features and sewing techniques, and we learned a lot. I’m sure we’ll continue to explore new challenges, broaden our horizons and build new scenarios together.”
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“Most times, you don’t realize that your are part of history, but you will see this on the astronauts on the moon,” said Matt Ondler, president of Axiom Space, pointing to the spacesuit displayed on the stage, emphasizing how it was fitting to present the “human-centered design in this amazing city where Leonardo da Vinci lived for 20 years innovating and designing.”
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In Milan, from Friday, the spacesuit will be presented to the public at large with an installation at the city’s luxury shopping arcade Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II as an extension of the IAC event.
Ondler said that in two years, the Artemis mission will be the first to place a woman, a person of color and the first non-American on the moon. He underscored the importance of the spacesuit for the astronauts in “an extreme environment, for the first time in the lunar south pole, the coldest place,” which meant finding innovative solutions to protect the fragility of human bodies in those conditions. He praised Prada’s “fantastic manufacturing capabilities,” and the importance of developing innovation through diverse teams that did not share the same background, education or skills.
Bertelli said that “going beyond our limits is one of the company’s values that perfectly reflects the spirit of the Prada brand,” and the vision of his parents Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada. He recalled how his father decided to invest in the America’s Cup at the end of the ‘90s, and since then invested more than 1 billion euros in know-how and engineering.
He said a team of 30, including engineers, in the Prada team worked on the spacesuit and that the company’s supply chain rose to the challenge of working with Axiom.
Bertelli underscored the “new foundational model for cross-industry collaboration, further expanding what’s possible in commercial space.”
Smiling, he pointed to the fact that Prada’s sailing team is called Luna Rossa, which translates into Red Moon, and that the spacesuit features red stripes, which in reality identify the roles of the astronauts, but which translate into Linea Rossa, the brand’s sportswear symbol.
Russell Ralston, executive vice president of extravehicular activity at Axiom Space, said the project blended “engineering, science and art” for the safety and comfort of the astronauts.
He said that safety has “taken a step forward,” and that Prada’s “in-depth knowledge and experience on materials and production processes supported innovative work in addition to the spacesuit cover layer.”
During development, Axiom Space used a dark cover layer for display purposes only to conceal the suit’s proprietary technology. However, the spacesuit worn on the lunar surface will be made from a white material that reflects heat and protects astronauts from extreme high temperatures and lunar dust.
The suit will withstand extreme temperatures at the lunar south pole and endure the coldest temperatures in the permanently shadowed regions for at least two hours. Astronauts will be able to perform spacewalks for at least eight hours.
“Prada’s expertise enabled advanced technologies and innovative sewing methods to bridge the gap between highly engineered functionality and an aesthetically appealing white outer layer, providing astronauts with an increased level of comfort while improving the materials’ performance,” Ralston said.
While the Apollo suits were more tailor-made, “the sizing scheme in this way captures a wider population and gender doesn’t play a role.” The spacesuit is designed for multiple missions as the select materials are robust and individual components can be removed, but details about the materials are confidential.
Bertelli said that for the spacesuit to be functional was “the number-one rule, which is also the origins of fashion, and so this was an exercise for the design team.”
He underscored that this project, like the America’s Cup, was not undertaken for commercial or marketing reasons. “We start with ideas we believe in, we start a journey and we don’t know if it’s strategic for the group,” and the rest comes at a later time, he said, underscoring the importance of gathering know-how.
Asked on the sidelines of the conference if he would go into space, smiling, he said “yes, but I don’t know if my family would be happy about this.”
He believes there is an increased interest in space travel because of the current geopolitical situation and that “there is a desire to start exploring again, it’s cyclical.”
Bertelli has long been interested in investing in sustainability and he said that, “the understanding from space is how lucky we are to live on this planet and how beautiful it is.”