Prada Unveils 'Liquid Cooling' Inner-Layer Garment for NASA's Moon Astronauts with Knitted-In Ventilation Tubes

Italian fashion house Prada "unveiled on Sunday the inner-layer garment set to be worn by NASA astronauts heading to the moon," reports Reuters.

"The body-hugging suit, created in collaboration with Houston-based space infrastructure developer Axiom Space, features ventilation tubes knitted into the garment." Expertise for developing space exploration products "can come from lots of seemingly unrelated industries," said Jonathan Cirtain, CEO of Axiom Space... The new product follows Prada's splashy foray into space fashion in 2024 with the unveiling of a spacesuit that is expected to be used for NASA's anticipated Artemis 4 moon landing in 2028...

Other fashion and apparel companies have jumped on the space bandwagon. Under Armour has partnered with spaceflight company Virgin Galactic to create space apparel, while Columbia Sportswear has worked with space exploration company Intuitive Machines on space fabric technology.
The new "Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment" was displayed on a mannequin at an event at Prada's Manhattan store.

A good test

[quonset]

If they want to do a really good test on this garment, have someone wear it around New York right now. If the person stays cool, it's a winner.

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

I've seen clothing with built in cooling in Japan, aimed at people who work outside. A little fan circulates air, and some of pockets for ice packs. Of course, that doesn't work in a space suit.

Re:

[cayenne8]

I was about to say "Fuck the Moon".....we need this tech for riding a motorcycle in summer here in southern Louisiana area (New Orleans)....

It's barely June and already sweltering....80+F by 7am these days....

Re:

[Valgrus Thunderaxe]

I hate this hacka crap.

Re:

[Woeful Countenance]

Since when did anyone see a lady in Prada underwear?

Never actually seen any, since they're idiotically expensive [prada.com].

Re:

[nospam007]

"Since when did anyone see a lady in Prada underwear?"

In this case, it would be a harsh mistress.

When I think of Prada

[algaeman]

I think of schweddy balls.

Re:When I think of Prada

[OrangAsm]

I think of the devil.

Not so new

[Woeful Countenance]

The new "Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment"

It may be "new" in the sense that cerulean could be the hot new color [wikipedia.org], but the Apollo astronauts already had LCVG's [wikipedia.org] in the 1970s (example here [si.edu]).

"In an independent space suit, the heat is ultimately transferred to a thin sheet of ice (formed by a separate feed water source). Due to the extremely low pressure in space, the heated ice sublimates directly to water vapor, which is then vented away from the suit."

Aliens

[fph il quozientatore]

It's important we dress our astronauts smart and classy, for when we find aliens. We want to give a good first impression when we shake their tentacle.

Re:

[OrangAsm]

That's not a tentacle.

How much?

[SuperDre]

How much did it cost to involve Prada? I'll bet it has been millions more as when they had used a no-name company, or a company that actually has experience in designing cloths for working environments, and probably still had a much better design as they have now.

Re:

[Too Late for Cool ID]

From the article, "Serdari pointed to two factors motivating Prada's interest in the space industry: to gain access to affluent consumers who are contemplating space travel, and to align the brand with avant-garde thought."

I'm sure Prada was the lowest bidder. They may be doing it at a loss to get people thinking, if you're going to get a spacesuit, it should be by Prada.

really?

[fluffernutter]

You mean they didn't have this already? It doesn't sound like rocket science. You can buy blankets with circulating active cooling on Amazon for $400 cdn.

Weird slant in the article

[necro81]

The article seems to focus a lot on the "oooh, Prada made this! What does this mean for luxury brands?" rather than, I dunno, flying to the fucking moon!

I guess it's kinda interesting that Prada was the company to fabricate the garment. On the other hand, they do know a lot about manipulating materials onto the human form, so I guess that fits. The author also missed the opportunity to point out that the Apollo lunar suits were fabricated by International Latex Company [astronomy.com] - the makers of the Playtex bra.

Office wear

[codeButcher]

If there was something that could do heating and cooling, I'd be happy to go talk to my employer's HR department to see if they could include it in the Dress Code. (They don't seem to have much more important stuff to do anyway.)

The AC in my office seems to have only 2 settings: 2 hot and 2 cold. Typically on the same day. In the mornings, up to about lunch, it struggles to get from ambient to official room temp, then just as it gets there, people start leaving again and it needs to adjust to that loss of