Fashion house Prada and aerospace company Axiom Space have revealed their design for NASA's Artemis III spacesuit, set to be worn by the first astronauts to return to the surface of the moon in over 50 years.

The companies unveiled the designs for the spacesuit – named the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit – today at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan.

The suit will be worn by astronauts on the Artemis III mission, the third instalment of the NASA programme dedicated to reestablishing a human presence on the moon.

While versions of the spacesuit have been shown previously, it was always with a covering dark layer intended to hide proprietary elements of the design.

The version shown today has the white outer layer that was designed by Prada and will be worn by astronauts on the moon. This layer reflects heat and will protect astronauts from the extremely high temperatures on the moon.

Prada said that the suit had been designed for flexibility, performance and safety, and includes specialised tools for exploring the lunar south pole.

It is also designed with a greater range of bodies in mind than previous suits, and will fit both male and female bodies from the first to the 99th percentile in sizing.

The Artemis III mission will see a female astronaut walk on the moon for the first time when it goes ahead, which NASA expects to be sometime after September 2026.

Other features of the suit include an onboard diagnostic system, a regenerable carbon dioxide scrubbing system, cooling technology to remove heat from the system and advanced coatings on the helmet and visor to enhance astronauts' vision.

The partnership between Prada and Axiom Space is a non-traditional one for the US space programme and is intended to fuse expertise in fashion and engineering from the commercial sector.

Prada said it contributed knowledge and expertise in areas such as high-performance materials and sewing techniques to the project, while making the suits more comfortable and aesthetically appealing.

One of the visual elements is a repeated bold red stripe, which is a nod to both a Prada motif and a traditional feature of some NASA spacesuits.

"Our elite teams have redefined spacesuit development, establishing new pathways to innovative solutions and applying a state-of-the-art design approach for the AxEMU," said Axiom Space president Matt Ondler.

"I'm very proud of the result we're showing today, which is just the first step in a long-term collaboration with Axiom Space," added Prada Group chief marketing officer and head of corporate social responsibility Lorenzo Bertelli.

"We’ve shared our expertise on high-performance materials, features and sewing techniques, and we learned a lot. I'm sure we'll continue to explore new challenges, broaden our horizons, and build new scenarios together."

NASA's Artemis programme was established in 2017 and flew its first mission – an uncrewed moon orbit – in 2022.

Artemis II will be a crewed mission and involve a fly-by of the moon. The last lunar landing was an Apollo mission in 1972.

Other aspects of the Artemis programme have involved developing a solar sail to push spacecraft along without propellant and a construction programme for 3D-printing structures for life on the moon.