— The next American astronauts will walk on the moon.
Houston-based aerospace company Axiom Space and Italian luxury fashion house Prada have revealed the outer layer of the space suit worn on NASA’s first Artemis mission to land humans on the lunar surface. The launch took place at the International Space Conference in Milan.
Axiom President Matt Ondler said in a statement Wednesday (Oct. 16): “The Axiom Space-Prada partnership sets a new foundational model for cross-industry collaboration.”
Since first showing a prototype of the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or Axemu, in 2023, Axiom has configured the spacesuit with a dark outer layer created by Esther Marquis, costume designer for the alternate space history series “All Mankind.” The temporary black, blue and orange cover was intended to hide the proprietary elements of the outfit during its development.
The final, flight version of the suit has a mostly white exterior, for the same reasons that most other spacesuits are light-colored: to reflect heat and protect the wearer from the high temperatures that occur when in direct sunlight. The white material helps dampen lunar dust, making it easier to see on the fabric.
“I am very proud of the result we are showing today,” said Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Corporate Social Responsibility. “We shared our expertise on high-performance materials, features and sewing techniques, and we learned a lot.”
The spacesuit has dark gray bands on the elbows and knees, as well as similarly colored hip joints. It has a light blue sole, reminiscent of the Apollo-era overshoes last worn on the moon 50 years ago, and the connection points for the red stripes help distinguish Apollo, space shuttle and space station suits. between team members.
An upper torso assembly with integrated helmet and Portable Life Support System (PLSS) backpack also features attachment points for embroidered national flags and a mission patch (or Axiom Space’s AXEMU logo on Wednesday). Emphasizing that this is a business design, Axiom’s “AX” logo is also stitched in gray on the suit’s center flap.
NASA awarded a 228 million task order to Axiom Space in 2022 to supply costumes for the Artemis III mission, which is expected to launch in late 2026.
“We’re ushering in a new era in space exploration where partnerships are essential to the commercialization of space,” said Russell Ralston, Axiom Space’s executive vice president of extravehicular operations, referring to the company’s work with Prada. “For the first time, we’re using expertise in other industries to create a better solution for space.”
The AxEMU case passed its initial design review and will enter the critical design review phase in 2025. According to the AxiomThe suit is designed to support moonwalks lasting at least eight hours and is designed to meet the requirements of NASA’s lunar landing zone. The AxEMU is designed to withstand the extremes of the Moon’s south pole and to withstand at least two hours of cold temperatures in permanently shadowed areas.
The suit features an on-board detection system, a regenerative carbon dioxide scrubbing system and cooling technology to remove heat. These include coatings on the helmet and visor to improve the wearer’s vision, and improved gloves over those previously worn on the moon and in space.
AxEMU has undergone testing and simulations at internal, SpaceX and NASA facilities with a variety of astronauts and engineers. The case was put through unoccupied underwater tests at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) and went through reduced gravity simulations at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Further tests, including a crude run at NBL and integrated tests with prototypes for the Artemis Lunar Terrain Vehicle (or moon rovers), will continue next year as AxEMU enters its final development phase.
