Fashion house Prada has teamed up with commercial space company Axiom Space to create lunar spacesuits for NASA's Artemis III mission, which will be the first crewed moon landing since 1972.

Called Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU), the suits will be designed to give astronauts "advanced capabilities for space exploration," Prada said.

They are an evolution of NASA's Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) spacesuit design and will use "innovative technologies and design" to be more flexible and provide more protection against the harsh lunar environment, according to the brand.

Prada will work together with Axiom Space's systems team to create the lunar spacesuits, which will be used for Artemis III, the first crewed lunar landing since December 1972.

Artemis III will also be the first mission to place a woman on the moon.

The lunar spacesuits will feature specialised tools for exploration and scientific work and give NASA commercially developed systems to let people work and live on the moon.

"The constantly forward-thinking ethos of Prada for humanity has broadened to his desire of adventure and to brave new horizons: space," Prada Group marketing director Lorenzo Bertelli said.

"We are honored to be a part of this historic mission with Axiom Space," he added. "Our decades of experimentation, cutting-edge technology and design know-how – which started back in the 1990s with Luna Rossa challenging for the America's cup – will now be applied to the design of a spacesuit for the Artemis era."

The collaboration marks "the first groundbreaking partnership between an Italian luxury fashion house and a commercial space company, Axiom Space," Prada said.

"We are thrilled to partner with Prada on the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit," said Michael Suffredini, CEO of Axiom Space.

"Prada's technical expertise with raw materials, manufacturing techniques, and innovative design concepts will bring advanced technologies instrumental in ensuring not only the comfort of astronauts on the lunar surface, but also the much-needed human factors considerations absent from legacy spacesuits."

NASA is currently working with a number of companies on its space missions. American entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX has won a NASA contract to design a moon lander, while tyre-maker Goodyear is creating airless tyres for a future lunar vehicle.

The space agency has also tapped Bjarke Ingels' studio BIG and construction technology company ICON to create Mars Dune Alpha, a 3D-printed structure designed to simulate living on Mars.

The photography is courtesy of Axiom Space.