Astronauts set to return to the moon after more than half a century will do so in style, with NASA using the services of fashion house Prada to design their space suits, the agencies report Reuters and Bloomberg.
NASA headquartersPhoto: Songquan Deng / Alamy / Alamy / Profimedia
The Italian fashion house will collaborate with Axiom Space, a private firm in Houston, Texas, to develop space suits for the upcoming lunar mission, according to a statement issued by the two companies on Wednesday.
Axiom Space, the company contracted by NASA to design the spacesuit to be called the Extravehicular Mobility Unit, said it co-opted Prada for the project because of its expertise with raw materials, manufacturing techniques, and “innovative design concepts.” .
Prada engineers will work alongside Axiom teams throughout the design process, finding solutions “for the unique challenges of the space and lunar environment,” according to the two companies’ press release.
The US space agency wants to put a man on the moon again in 2025
NASA announced in March this year that the Artemis 2 space mission, which will take a crew of astronauts around the Moon for the first time since 1972, will be released in November 2024.
Later, in early April, NASA revealed the names of those in a video-transmitted ceremony from its headquarters four astronauts who will form the crew mission: Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Reid Wiseman (American) and Jeremy Hansen (Canadian).
Among the four is a black astronaut, but also a woman, two firsts for a mission to the moon. Also for the first time, a Canadian citizen was also selected.
They will fly around the moon – without landing – on a ten-day mission. Then comes the Artemis 3 mission, which will take astronauts to the lunar surface.
That mission is officially scheduled for 2025, though the timeline couldn’t be more uncertain due to the many delays and problems the Artemis program has faced.
