Prada will help design the spacesuits for NASA's 2025 Artemis III mission

NASA is planning its first crewed mission to the moon since Apollo 17's 1972 trip, and it's doing so in style. Axiom Space - the company NASA chose last year to create the Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) spacesuits for 2025's Artemis III mission - has announced it's partnering with luxury Italian brand Prada to design them.

The two companies will work side by side throughout production. "Prada's technical expertise with raw materials, manufacturing techniques, and innovative design concepts 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," Axiom Space CEO Michael Suffredini said in a statement.

Prada Group marketing director Lorenzo Bertelli added, "It is a true celebration of the power of human creativity and innovation to advance civilization." He also credited the company's "cutting-edge" work to decades of experience with its Luna Rossa Prada sailing team.

The Artemis III mission is unique not only because of the five decades since Apollo 17 but because it's the first time a woman or person of color will go to the moon, astronauts Christina Koch and Victor Glover. Interestingly, Koch's role in the mission is acknowledged early on in Axiom Space's release, seemingly creating a subtext that the presence of a woman (read: an accomplished, experienced astronaut) is necessary to justify teaming up with a luxury designer.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prada-will-help-design-the-spacesuits-for-nasas-2025-artemis-iii-mission-150009987.html?src=rss