Decathlon unveiled the first space suit for European astronauts

Decathlon has unveiled its first spacesuit designed for use by European astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS).

Europe’s largest sports retailer has developed the EuroSuit in collaboration with France’s national space agency CNES, with the aim of bringing Europe “dominance in human space exploration”.

The EuroSuit is designed to be used for In-Vehicle Activities (IVA) rather than spacewalks. This makes them suitable for astronauts during launch, re-entry and emergency situations, but not when exposed to the extreme environment beyond the walls of their capsule.

“EuroSuit embodies our ability to push the boundaries of innovation, beyond our traditional areas of expertise,” said Sébastien Haquet, Director of Advanced Innovation at Decathlon.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to explore new application areas for our textile and product design knowledge, in a space-sized environment.”

Open the image in the gallery

The prototype of this spacesuit will be tested on the International Space Station in 2026 and will be worn by French astronaut Sophie Adenot during the European Space Agency (ESA) Epsilon mission.

He will test its maneuverability in a microgravity environment on the space station, as well as its performance during tasks such as interacting with a touch screen.

One of the big technical advances of the EuroSuit is how fast it can be put on, so that astronauts can put it on completely unassisted in less than two minutes.

This is a first in the space sector that is particularly useful for ensuring the safety of astronauts in emergency situations.

According to CNES, future versions of the suit will integrate communication systems and a head-up display, and the final design is expected to be unveiled later this decade.

Sébastien Barde, Deputy Director of Exploration and Human Spaceflight at CNES, said: “In line with Europe’s goal of achieving greater autonomy for human spaceflight, CNES has chosen to focus on in-vehicle suits.

Using the exceptional expertise of our partners, we prepare them to deliver this type of suit at the right time.