Andy Saunders, a property developer from Cheshire, has an intense interest in Project Apollo, which he considers one of the most significant events in human history. However, he is dissatisfied with the quality of images that document these space missions. He has put his career on hold and dedicated his time to improving NASA’s image archive, resulting in a new book called Apollo Remastered. The book contains 400 high-quality pictures that provide a detailed account of humanity’s first journey to another world.

The book Apollo Remastered includes a photo of the Apollo 8 “clapperboard” used by the astronauts in their movies. While some of the pictures are familiar and iconic, others are presented in stunning detail that allows the viewer to appreciate them in a new way. The crispness and depth of the images make them feel almost tangible. The high-quality scans of the original film material combined with modern digital editing techniques, including some developed by Saunders himself, have allowed for crisp and detailed images of humanity’s first foray to another world. The book features recognisable images such as Neil Armstrong on the moon, as well as previously unseen images such as the first clear imagery of life on board the stricken Apollo 13 mission. The book also includes a detailed zoom-in on the golf ball Alan Shepard hit during the Apollo 14 mission.

Andy Saunders has achieved impressive results with the 16mm movie sequences captured by astronauts inside their spacecraft during Apollo missions. With 10 hours of footage in the Apollo archive, he has used a technique called “stacking” in his editing software to align, layer, and process multiple frames to create a single, high-detail image that resembles a better quality stills camera photo. This is among the most impressive work he has done in his remastered volume, which includes recognizable and lesser-known images from the Apollo missions, enhanced with modern digital editing and enhancement techniques.

Andy Saunders has remastered 400 pictures from NASA’s image archive in a new book called “Apollo Remastered”. He used high-definition scans of the original film material, kept in a deep freeze by NASA, and modern digital editing and enhancement techniques. One impressive technique he used was “stacking” 16mm movie sequences captured by the astronauts inside their capsules to synthesise one highly detailed image. Andy’s favourite remastered image is of Apollo 9 commander Jim McDivitt manually docking two spacecraft, even though it was chronically underexposed.

He talks about his favourite remastered image in “Apollo Remastered”, which depicts the Apollo 9 commander Jim McDivitt manually docking two spacecraft high above the Earth in 1969. Andy used high-definition scans of original film material and modern digital editing techniques to create the image. He also had to become a student of light and colour by talking to the astronauts to mine their first-hand impressions and trawling through hours of mission voice recordings. Nasa’s upcoming Artemis programme will feature a visual extravaganza with cameras from all vantage points, but Andy doubts it will match the romance of the old film.