Issue 08 | May 2026
Forging New Frontiers
Industrial Design
Defying gravity: The new threads of space flight and beyond
An iron-woven vest for astronauts in microgravity is the starting point for a wider programme: fabrics that sense and regulate the body, whether in space, in hospitals or in sports settings.
A
s NASA’s Artemis II mission took four astronauts on an elegant figureof-eight path around the Moon and back, here is one of spaceflight’s less glamorous truths: after six decades of human missions, astronauts still strap themselves to walls with Velcro. The hook-and-loop strips are lightweight and easy to apply, but they produce a rasping, jarring sound that reverberates through the astronauts’ otherwise serene habitat and workspace. They also degrade within weeks and do little to address the deeper problem: a body untethered from gravity has no reliable sense of being anchored.