July 11, 2025

— Oakley is going from the ski slopes and sports fields on Earth to the craters and ridges on the moon.

The high-performance sunglasses company has been chosen to provide the visor system for the next spacesuit to be worn on the lunar surface. The Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or AxEMU, will incorporate Oakey's advanced optical technology into its deployable two-part visor to provide astronauts with clearer and farther vision while exploring the moon's south pole.

"We really haven't built a suit in 40 years. Of course, we haven't gone to the moon in even longer. So we needed a new spacesuit to return to the moon. Along with that, we wanted a helmet and a visor that had the maximum visibility as well," said Matt Ondler, chief strategy officer for Houston-based Axiom Space, in a video that accompanied the partnership announcement on Friday (July 11).

NASA awarded Axiom Space a $228.5 million task order under a $1.26 billion contract to build the next-generation spacesuits to support the agency's Artemis lunar missions. The Artemis III mission, targeted for mid-2027, is planned as the first return of humans to the moon's surface since Apollo 17 departed the lunar surface in 1972.

Oakley x Axiom Space visor system. Click to enlarge video in pop-up window. (Axiom Space)

"The next person to walk on the moon will be wearing Oakley's next-gen High-Definition Optics (HDO), and that's a responsibility we don't take lightly," Ryan Saylor, senior vice president of advanced product development at Oakley, said in a statement. "We're proud to bring this legacy of optical performance and visual acuity to the Artemis III mission."

Exploring the moon, especially at the poles where astronauts can pass between near-constant sunlight and permanently-shadowed areas, can present distinct challenges from the extremes that Oakley has designed optics for in the past, including snow-covered mountain slopes, sun-beaten trails and and high-speed descents.

"There is a big misconception about space, often it is thought as a dark space, no light, pitch black. We actually realized the opposite. You can move from complete darkness to full sunlight," said Pietro Frigeni, research and development technical project lead at Oakley.

"In space, the sun is really harsh. It feels as if it's piercing through your eyes," Koichi Wakata, Axiom Space's chief technology officer and a veteran JAXA astronaut, said. "That's why we need an exceptional visor system to protect our eyes and offer maximum visibility to enable astronauts to work in the challenging lunar environment."

Like the Apollo-era lunar extravehicular visor assembly (LEVA), the Oakley system includes two visors and slides for adjustable protection depending on the lighting conditions. An internal visor is tuned to high transmittance in the visible region and reduced haze to optimize visual quality and clarity.

The outer layer has an anti-scratch coating and like its Apollo predecessor, uses a precious metal to protect against UV radiation.

"We were seeking for something that was specifically oriented for the reflection of the infrared light and this is what gold is," said Vincenzo Spremulli, Oakley's head of research and development.

Oakley is the third commercial partner to be announced by Axiom Space in the design and development of the AxEMU. Italian luxury fashion house Prada collaborated on the look and materials for the outer layer of the spacesuit and Nokia, the Finland-based telecommunications company, is supplying its high-speed cellular-network capabilities to support the AxEMU's HD video, telemetry data and voice transmissions.

Axiom Space chose Oakley for its expertise in extreme sports and adventure environments.

"We have a mission where we need to see more. We needed more protection. We needed to be safer. We have to be mission ready," said Michelle Stein, senior program manager at KBR, another partner with Axiom Space in the AxEMU. "We said all of that to Oakley, and they said, 'Let's go.'"