Astronauts to wear Prada-designed garment on the moon

Houston-based Axiom Space unveiled the next stage of its spacesuit collaboration with the Italian fashion house on Sunday, July 6.

The Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment (LCVG) is designed to be worn by astronauts inside their spacesuits when they return to the lunar surface.

It is engineered as the high-performance inner layer of the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU), the spacesuit the two companies unveiled in 2024.

The LCVG is built to protect NASA’s Artemis IV astronauts from the elements when they explore the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years, a mission that is targeted for early 2028.

The garment regulates astronaut body heat on spacewalks by circulating cold water through a network of tubes.

It also serves a ventilation function, with a separate loop of tubes delivering fresh oxygen across an astronaut's face to continuously wash away exhaled carbon dioxide.

Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group chief marketing officer and head of sustainability, said: "When we unveiled the AxEMU, we announced that the collaboration between Prada and Axiom Space would continue beyond that first milestone.

"Today, we are proud to present a new achievement born from the unique combination of Axiom Space’s pioneering expertise and Prada’s know-how in design, patternmaking, and advanced materials, ahead of humanity’s return to the lunar surface."

Jonathan Cirtain, Axiom Space CEO and president, said: "The future of space exploration will not be built by any one entity alone, and our partnership with Prada is proof of that.

"By bringing together the best in both aerospace engineering as well as luxury craftsmanship and advanced product development, we have developed a garment that neither company could have created independently, and that is exactly the kind of cross-industry thinking that will define the next era of human spaceflight."

NASA flew its first crewed Artemis mission, Artemis II, in April, sending four astronauts aboard Orion on a 10-day flyby around the Moon before returning safely to Earth.