NASA’s clunky white spacesuits are getting a designer upgrade. Prada has partnered with Axiom Space to create a next-generation outfit for the Artemis 4 astronauts who will step foot on the Moon for the first time in over 50 years. You’ve probably seen the suit’s snazzy exterior, but the newly unveiled inner layer is just as cool.
This form-fitting jumpsuit, called the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment (LCVG), is designed to protect astronauts from the elements as they explore the lunar surface, according to an Axiom statement released Sunday. The LCVG is the layer worn closest to the body, equipped with ventilation and thermal cooling tubes kitted into the garment. But Prada certainly didn’t sacrifice form for function. The streamlined suit looks runway-ready, with a sophisticated body-hugging silhouette and an eye-catching tubing design.
“Every minute astronauts spend outside their vehicle, the LCVG is working to keep them safe,” Russell Ralston, Axiom Space Senior Vice President of Spacecraft Development, said in the statement. “It manages their thermal environment, supports their breathing, and does it all while they’re pushing their bodies to the limit. The work we have done with Prada has taken that capability to a level we could not have achieved alone.”
Engineered for safety and comfort
NASA tapped Axiom Space, a Houston-based aerospace company, to create the first Artemis moonwalking spacesuits in 2022. The following year, Axiom announced its collaboration with Prada, marking the designer label’s first foray into spacewear.
While it may seem frivolous to take a luxury approach to a highly engineered, life-preserving garment, Axiom selected Prada for its technical expertise with raw materials, manufacturing techniques, and innovative design concepts. Together, they aim to create a more comfortable, flexible suit that will make it easier for astronauts to work on the lunar surface for extended periods of time. The result is the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit.
The exterior layer of the suit, unveiled in 2024, is sleeker and more modernized than the Apollo moonwalking spacesuits. It’s also equipped with state-of-the-art technology, including an onboard health monitoring system, a cooling system, pressure garments, and special coatings on the helmet and visor to enhance the wearer’s view of their surroundings.
The interior layer is no less sophisticated. Prada and Axiom designed the LCVG using advanced 3D modeling techniques to maintain cooling and ventilation functionality while maximizing comfort. During spacewalks, astronauts’ bodies generate a lot of heat, so the LCVG circulates cold water around major muscle groups through a network of thermal cooling tubes. The system transports absorbed heat to the suit’s portable life-support system, where it is then expelled into space.
Another system of tubes provides ventilation, delivering fresh oxygen across the wearer’s face to continuously flush out exhaled carbon dioxide. The gas then passes back through the life-support system’s CO2 scrubber before the oxygen is recirculated.
In-space test by 2027
In April, Axiom said it is prepared to test the AxEMU spacesuit during the Artemis 3 mission in 2027. That mission will not land astronauts on the lunar surface, but it will send a crew to low Earth orbit to test rendezvous and docking operations between NASA’s Orion spacecraft and at least one of two commercial Moon landers: SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System (HLS) and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander.
Axiom is putting together a qualification suit to certify it for in-flight use by astronauts. That garment will undergo ground-based testing that will simulate launch loads as well as the temperatures and pressures experienced by astronauts in space, SpaceNews reported.
Even if Axiom doesn’t get the chance to demo its new suit on Artemis 3, it could do so on the International Space Station. “[NASA] has made it clear we’re going to fly a suit next year,” Jonathan Cirtain, president and chief executive of Axiom Space, said during an April briefing, according to SpaceNews. “Is that to the International Space Station? Is that with the HLS providers? To be determined.”
Sending these next-generation suits to space for the first time will signal the start of a new era for NASA—one focused on establishing a sustained American presence on the Moon. As astronauts spend increasing amounts of time on the lunar surface, they will do so in comfort and style.
