This story appeared on WIRED Italia and was translated from Italian.
“We are seeing the beginning of a new era, as the Internet was in the 1980s. Today access to space is still something for the few, but as is the case with computing, in a few years the prices will drop. Everyone should indulge. the beauty of adventure.” Lorenzo Bertelli, Chief Marketing Officer of Prada, said today at the International Astronautical Congress 2024 in Milan, Italy. Yes, that’s right, Prada at the International Astronautical Congress.
Bertelli was speaking excitedly at the unveiling of the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU)—a joint design of space suit fashion house with Houston-based startup Axiom Space, which will be used for NASA’s Artemis 3 mission to the moon scheduled for 2026.
“[This] it’s not a commercial or marketing issue,” continued Bertelli. “In the end we will think about those later, but overcoming our limits is one of the values that best reflects the spirit of Prada. It is the first step in the collaboration with Axiom Space.”
Speaking of overcoming limitations—and while Bertelli is still waiting to ponder Prada’s future marketing opportunities—AxEMU is actually a modification of NASA’s Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (or xEMU), a suit used for missions outside the International Space Station.
Designed for maximum flexibility, efficiency, and safety, AxEMU includes special instruments for exploring the lunar south pole, where temperatures can be extreme and regolith, as thin as talcum powder, sticks everywhere, moving through every crevice.
The suit can withstand the high temperatures of the lunar south pole and the harsh climate of the permanently shaded regions for at least two hours, and can handle at least eight hours of extravehicular operations.
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