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The outfit has landed. This is the Prada co-designed spacesuit that will be worn by the first woman and the first person of colour ever to land on the moon, as they take their first steps on the lunar surface. According to Nasa, that historical moment might arrive as early as September 2026.
The spacesuit was unveiled this morning at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan during a presentation by Prada and its partner Axiom Space. Nasa has selected Axiom Space to oversee the development and delivery of the ‘Extravehicular Mobility Unit’ (aka the spacesuit) for Artemis III, a mission whose prime objective is the first human lunar landing since Apollo 17 back in 1972. Axiom Space has in turn approached Prada to help deliver this critical piece of equipment in order to achieve that goal.
“We are pioneering a new era in space exploration,” Russell Ralston, Axiom Space’s executive VP of extravehicular activity, said via release before this morning’s reveal. He added: “For the first time, we are leveraging expertise in other industries to craft a better solution for space.”
The person who secured Prada’s front-row seat in the new space race is Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group CMO and head of corporate social responsibility. He told Vogue via email: “Partnering with Axiom Space has been an unprecedented journey. I am particularly proud of our teams who have worked to provide tailor-made solutions to increase astronauts’ comfort and flexibility.”
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In the images unveiled today, there is no Prada logo present to signal the Italian firm’s role in the spacesuit’s creation. Yet whether by accident or design (and it’s surely the latter), the powerfully silhouetted suit features several striking red lines on its otherwise-white surface. These echo the design motif of Prada’s Linea Rossa technical line, which was first developed to outfit its America’s Cup sailing team, Luna Rossa. In Italian, ‘Luna Rossa’ translates to “red moon”.
According to a joint statement by the spacesuit’s co-creators, their collaboration was specifically focused on the equipment’s outer-layer design and material fabrication. Once on the moon, the suit will enable its astronaut wearers to “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.”
Performance is the paramount design priority, but the release says that Prada has also contributed to shaping the look of what seems set to become one of the planet’s most recognisable outfits. It states that the Axiom engineers consulted the Italian fashion specialists on how to produce a suit that would “visually inspire future space exploration”. It added: “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.”
This expansion of the Pradasphere, beyond our atmosphere, is just one small step in the overall Artemis project. Together with private-sector partners such as Axiom, Prada and SpaceX — which has developed the Human Landing System (HLS) due to take Artemis III’s pair of moonwalkers to and from its orbit — Nasa is using Artemis to establish transport technology and protocols that can enable future generations to explore deep space, and even to visit Mars.
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Bertelli too is thinking about long-term objectives. He said: “We have proposed to Axiom new weaving processes with high-performance yarns or near-seamless production that could become interesting future solutions for the spacesuits team to consider.”
The astronauts selected to crew the upcoming mission have yet to be announced, however Nasa has already stated that: “For the benefit of all humanity, Nasa and its partners will land the first woman and first person of colour on the surface of the moon with Artemis.” As and when that historical landing is achieved, they will become the first to walk on the moon’s surface since Gene Cernan in December 1972. A total of 12 astronauts have landed on the moon, all of them in a slim window between the first 1969 landing by Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong and that final Apollo 17 mission three and a half years later.
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