Group photo taken during the visit to hand over Emilio Herrera’s project to the ICAO.
• The exhibition features a life-size replica of his stratonautical suit—the forerunner of modern spacesuits—and will showcase his scientific career and contribution to international aeronautical cooperation
• Santano, Secretary of State for Transport and Sustainable Mobility: “The project will showcase Spain’s major contribution to aeronautical history through Emilio Herrera’s legacy, as well as our continuing commitment to ICAO and the aviation community”
• Juan Carlos Salazar, ICAO Secretary General: “The exhibition showcases Spain's important contribution to aviation history”
• Margarita Asuar, Managing Director of the ENAIRE Foundation: “The exhibition also commemorates the Silver Age of Spanish aeronautics and places Emilio Herrera at the heart of international civil aviation”
Since yesterday, the Kingdom of Spain is represented at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Museum in Montreal with the international exhibition project ‘The Stratonautical Suit. Emilio Herrera: From Air to Space’. The exhibition brings Spain remarkable contribution to the global history of aeronautics through the life and work of this outstanding military engineer, inventor and physicist (Granada, 1879–Geneva, 1967).
Jointly promoted by the ENAIRE Foundation and the Spanish Delegation to ICAO, the initiative was developed and directed by the Foundation and will remain at ICAO headquarters under a memorandum of cooperation signed on Tuesday by José Antonio Santano, Secretary of State for Transport and Sustainable Mobility and Chairman of the ENAIRE Foundation, and ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar.
“We are delighted to receive this historical item from Spain and to welcome this exhibition to the ICAO museum,” said Juan Carlos Salazar, Secretary General of ICAO. “By highlighting the achievements of aeronautical engineer and inventor Emilio Herrera, the exhibition showcases Spain's important contribution to aviation history and offers visitors a unique opportunity to explore a significant chapter in the history of flight”, added.
The opening of the international Emilio Herrera exhibition project was also attended by ICAO Council President Toshiyuki Onuma; the Permanent Representative of Spain to ICAO, Ángel Luis Arias; ENAIRE Director General Enrique Maurer; and a Spanish delegation comprising representatives of the Air and Space Force, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and members of Emilio Herrera’s family.
Margarita Asuar, Chief Curator of the project and Director of the ENAIRE Foundation, explained that this project is not merely an exhibition but rather a cultural ecosystem rooted in aviation history. In addition to the full size 1:1 reconstruction of the stratonautical suit designed by Emilio Herrera in 1935, the exhibition showcases a series of digital museum resources -including virtual tours, augmented reality, videos, music, digital library- providing access to documents from Emilio Herrera Archive that had served as the scientific and cultural foundation of the project.
Meeting between the Secretary of State for Transport and Sustainable Mobility, José Antonio Santano, and the Secretary-General of the ICAO, Juan Carlos Salazar.
Herrera’s stratonautical suit and scientific legacy
The stratonautical suit, which includes a replica of the cloak Herrera designed to protect himself from cosmic radiation during the ascent, combined three one-piece suits with an articulated but non-extensible outer metal mesh. It also featured a visor made of multiple layers of glass, an oxygen supply and a microphone for radio communication. The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War prevented Herrera from testing his invention, but decades later his design became a precursor to the first spacesuits.
Secretary of State for Transport and Sustainable Mobility José Antonio Santano welcomed the fact that the exhibition would showcase at ICAO “Spain’s enormous contribution to the history of aeronautics and aviation through Emilio Herrera’s legacy, while also reaffirming Spain’s present-day commitment to ICAO and the aviation community”. Santano also highlighted Herrera’s political role and “commitment to freedom and democracy”. Herrera served as President of the Spanish Republic in exile from 1960 to 1962.
According to ENAIRE Foundation Managing Director Margarita Asuar, “the exhibition offers an insight into the so-called Silver Age of Spanish aeronautics, the era of the first great flights and of Spain’s leading role in establishing fundamental, unifying principles for aviation, while placing Emilio Herrera’s legacy at the heart of international civil aviation.”
Asuar added: “The exhibition is the culmination of the ENAIRE Foundation’s commitment to securing international recognition for Emilio Herrera’s scientific legacy. In doing so, we are fulfilling one of our founding purposes: to promote aeronautical culture and science while providing a public service by safeguarding and sharing knowledge in this field.”
The exhibition also highlights the breadth of Emilio Herrera Linares’s career as a military engineer, balloonist, airship and aeroplane pilot, scientist, mathematician, inventor and teacher. Herrera founded and directed the Cuatro Vientos Aerodynamic Laboratory and in 1928 helped establish the Advanced School of Aerotechnics. He worked in aerodynamics, meteorology, flight safety and cosmic radiation, and put forward pioneering proposals on space exploration and satellite communications.
Herrera’s life was marked by exile under the Franco dictatorship. In December 2025, Emilio Herrera received the Declaration of Recognition and Personal Reparation for the persecution he suffered on political grounds, and in July 2026 he was posthumously restored to the rank of general.
Alfredo Martínez Serrano, Spain’s ambassador to Canada, with the Secretary of State for Transport and Sustainable Mobility, José Antonio Santano, at the handover of Emilio Herrera’s project to the ICAO.
A comprehensive, accessible and evolving project
The physical exhibition is complemented by a virtual library containing digitised documents from the Emilio Herrera Archive, together with other material by historians. It also includes a mobile app featuring podcasts, videos, talks by experts, original music and virtual exhibitions devoted to Emilio Herrera, his scientific and aeronautical legacy and the Great Flights of Spanish Aviation. It also features augmented-reality experiences ranging from the balloon to the space rocket, as well as a conversational agent offering new ways to access and explore this historical and cultural heritage. At the ICAO Museum, the content is available in Spanish and English; on the ENAIRE Foundation website, it is available in all six official ICAO languages: Spanish, English, French, Arabic, Chinese and Russian.
Designed to be inclusive, the exhibition features a wealth of material, including original music and video productions, as well as striking AI-based resources.
The exhibition draws on the Emilio Herrera Archive, donated by the family to the Air and Space Force. The Air and Space Force Historical and Cultural Service (SHYCEA) is cataloguing and digitising the archive with sponsorship from the ENAIRE Foundation.
More information about the Emilio Herrera exhibition project is available on the ENAIRE Foundation website. Direct link.
About the ENAIRE Foundation
The ENAIRE Foundation, a cultural institution under the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, manages, preserves and promotes the ENAIRE Contemporary Art Collection—a public cultural service connected with airport infrastructure.
It is the only foundation in Spain that brings together two seemingly disparate fields—art and aviation culture—and also runs an extensive programme of cultural activities on the ENAIRE Collection and aviation.
Since 2021, the ENAIRE Foundation has been running the Naves de Gamazo Arts Centre in Santander. The Centre is a model of institutional collaboration, involving the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, the Port of Santander and the Government of Cantabria—the latter through its Regional Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism and its Regional Company for Education, Culture and Sport.
The ENAIRE Foundation uses innovative museum resources as part of its digital ecosystem, promoting wider access to art and aviation culture.
The digital ecosystem is accessible worldwide via the FOUNDATION'S WEBSITE.
About ENAIRE
ENAIRE is the air navigation service provider in Spain.
As a company of the Ministry of Sustainable Transport and Mobility, it provides air traffic control services during the en route and approach phases of all flights to and from Spain and overflights. In addition, it manages communications, navigation and surveillance services from ENAIRE in the airspace and the entire AENA airport network in Spain and provides aerodrome air traffic control services in 21 airports, including the busiest.
ENAIRE is the fourth largest European air navigation service provider, and it is a member of international partnerships A6 Alliance, SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) Joint Undertaking, SESAR Deployment Manager, iTEC, CANSO (Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation) and collaborates closely with ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization).
ENAIRE has achieved the highest rating for the key performance indicator regarding air safety at the European level for six consecutive years, securing the maximum possible score of 100%. It has also been awarded the EFQM 600 Seal for its safe, efficient, innovative and sustainable management of air navigation services.