On the occasion of the International Astronautical Congress, which took place in Milan during last October, the American aerospace company Axiom Space and the Italian fashion brand revealed for the first time the design of the suit that will be used by the astronauts during the next Moon Landing
by Domenico Casoria
It is not known when Artemis III, the NASA mission that will bring humans back on the Moon, will be launched. It would be the first time since 1972. But it is certain that a man and women dressed by Prada will walk again on the satellite. The suit designed by the fashion brand together with Axiom Space, highlights again the expertise of Prada in terms of alternative materials, production techniques and innovative design. It starts, once and for all, fashion’s race towards new worlds. This time playing a leading role.
To reverse the connection
Fashion has always demonstrated an impactful fascination for space. But the connection between them has always been unbalanced in favor of the last one, with fashion ready to chase far imaginaries. But the collaboration between Prada and Axiom Space reverses this paradigm. The brand’s engineers worked in harmony with the team of the aerospace company in order to create a suit capable of protecting the astronauts from the hostile environment that characterizes space. It will then permit, for the first time, the exploration of the Lunar south pole.
How it’s made
Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU), that’s how the suit is called, will be realized with a white material in order to reflect the heat and protect the astronauts from the extreme temperatures and from lunar dust. The suit has been designed with the aim of providing flexibility, efficiency and safety; it adapts itself to the different bodies of the astronauts, and it is capable of tolerating the extreme heat of the Lunar south pole and the harsh weather that characterizes the Permanently Shadowed Regions, for at least two hours. Clearly, AxEMU is an engineering masterpiece. It provides redundancy systems and an integrated diagnostic mechanism, which ensures the safety of the astronaut. It also provides a regenerable carbon dioxide removal system and a cooling technology in order to dissipate heat, besides having a helmet that optimizes visibility.
We are still talking about Prada
Having said that, the thing that Prada hasn’t given up on clearly is style. By being designed with peculiar materials, surely the room for maneuver wasn’t extremely wide. But along the sleeves, on the abdomen and on the helmet, AxEMU presents the historical red stripe that certainly recalls the famous Prada’s Red Line, inspired by sportswear and by the essential aesthetic of the Nineties.
“Overcoming our limits is one of the values that reflect at best the spirit of Prada – as underlined by Lorenzo Bertelli, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Corporate Social Responsibility of the Prada Group. We have shared our know-how about high-performance materials, new solutions and stitching techniques, learning a lot from each other”. So, Prada has started its space conquest, with the aim of surpassing possible competitors (although at the moment there are none). Finally, paraphrasing the title of a famous film, “The Moon (sooner or later) wears Prada”.
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