NASA astronauts will soon fly to space in style, as luxury fashion brand Prada joins the United States space agency. Prada will design the space suits for NASA’s 2025 Moon Mission, alongside another private company Axiom Space.
Axiom Space in a press release said that the Italian fashion house would bring in expertise with “raw materials, manufacturing techniques, and innovative design concepts.”
It further said that Prada “will bring advanced technologies instrumental in ensuring not only the comfort of astronauts on the lunar surface but also the much-needed human factors considerations absent from legacy spacesuits.”
The companies, as per BBC, said that they would make use of “innovative technologies and design” to allow “greater exploration of the lunar surface than ever before”.

“The development of these next-generation spacesuits is a significant milestone in furthering space exploration, and enabling a deeper understanding of the Moon, the solar system, and beyond,” it added.

How can a fashion brand design space suit?
Talking to BBC, an astronaut said that they believe Prada was up to the challenge due to their vast design experience, which is not merely limited to the catwalks of Milan. The fashion brand also boasts of experience with the America’s Cup sailing competition.

“Prada has considerable experience with various types of composite fabrics and may actually be able to make some real technical contributions to the outer layers of the new space suit,” said Professor Jeffrey Hoffman.
Hoffman has been part of five NASA missions. He has also carried out four spacewalks.

The NASA astronaut, however, said that despite Prada’s involvement, people should not expect astronauts in “paisley spacesuits or any fancy patterns like that.” as “maintaining a good thermal environment is really the critical thing”.

“A spacesuit is really like a miniature spacecraft. It has to provide pressure, oxygen, keep you at a reasonable temperature,” he noted.