Cooling Prada underwear astronauts will wear on the Moon unveiled.

Credit: Axiom Space/Cover Images The Prada underwear astronauts will wear when they return to the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years have been revealed. Axiom Space teamed up with the Italian fashion house to create the spacesuits for NASA’s Artenis missions. Now the firms have unveiled a new Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment (LCVG) designed for astronauts to wear inside their Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit. The garment forms a key inner layer of the AxEMU suit and is intended to protect astronauts from the harsh conditions of the Moon. Axiom Space said the LCVG combines the company's aerospace engineering expertise with Prada's experience in advanced materials, engineered knitting and product design. “The future of space exploration will not be built by any one entity alone, and our partnership with Prada is proof of that,” said Dr Jonathan Cirtain, Axiom Space Chief Executive and President. “By bringing together the best in both aerospace engineering as well as luxury craftmanship 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.” According to the companies, the garment has been developed using advanced 3D modelling techniques and is designed to maintain cooling and ventilation while improving comfort during spacewalks lasting up to eight hours. Prada's expertise in high-performance materials also helped identify and source specialist fibres that can withstand repeated use during long-duration missions. The latest announcement builds on a collaboration revealed in 2024, when Axiom Space and Prada presented the AxEMU spacesuit's outer layer. Prada contributed to the design and development of an exterior capable of withstanding the extreme temperatures and micrometeoroid hazards expected at the lunar south pole. The companies said extending the partnership to the suit's inner cooling garment was a natural next step, focusing on the layer closest to the astronaut's body where temperature regulation, comfort and reliability are essential. “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,” said Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Sustainability. “We look forward to continuing this collaboration with Axiom Space, pushing boundaries and exploring new frontiers together.” During spacewalks, astronauts generate significant amounts of body heat through physical exertion. The LCVG is designed to circulate cold water through a network of tubes positioned around major muscle groups, removing excess heat and transferring it to the suit's portable life-support system, where it can be expelled into space. Unlike previous generations of cooling garments, Axiom Space said the new design includes a fully redundant cooling circuit, providing a back-up system should the primary cooling loop fail. The garment is expected to play a critical role when astronauts return to the Moon as part of NASA's Artemis IV mission. In addition to temperature control, it also provides ventilation. A separate system of tubes delivers fresh oxygen across the astronaut's face, helping remove exhaled carbon dioxide. The gas is then routed through the life-support system's carbon dioxide scrubber before oxygen is recirculated. “Every minute astronauts spend outside their vehicle, the LCVG is working to keep them safe,” said Russell Ralston, Axiom Space Senior Vice President of Spacecraft Development. “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.”