Apollo Remastered: The Ultimate Photographic Record
Apollo Remastered: The Ultimate Photographic Record book cover

Apollo Remastered: The Ultimate Photographic Record

Price
$46.35
Format
Hardcover
Pages
432
Publisher
Black Dog & Leventhal
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0762480241
Dimensions
11.85 x 1.55 x 12.55 inches
Weight
7.01 pounds

Description

“Space nerds will geek out over this far-out coffee table book, which features hundreds of never-before-seen images from the Apollo missions, lovingly brought to life by NASA’s photo restorer Saunders. Startling spacewalks, portraits of astronauts in their spacecraft and dazzling new views of the Earth and Moon give new insight and perspective on man’s exploration of space.”― New York Post "The new book, Apollo Remastered by Andy Saunders shows the Apollo lunar missions like you have never seen them before. The illuminating images are simply out of this world."― New Scientist "A weighty coffee table book that beams readers right into its cosmic world... pure magic, full of clarity, sharpness and color that makes readers feel like part of the team--a far cry from those grainy images that were broadcast on TV at the time."― BookPage “ Truly epic . . . Some of the scenes you'll recognize; they're among the most iconic photos ever taken. But others you will not have seen before; and certainly not in the detail that Andy has rendered them. They have a crispness and depth that makes you want to reach out and touch them.”― BBC News “NASA's Moon missions as you've never seen them before - remastered for a new century.”― The Guardian "For almost half a century, the original NASA photographic film of the Apollo missions was stored in a frozen vault. But in Apolloxa0Remastered, imaging specialist Andy Saunders takes care to introduce newly enhanced and crisp versions of the original photographs from the missions….By pairing stunning images from the moon’s surface with stills from within the spacecraft, Saunders presents a rare look inside these journeys to the moon. The result is an immersive experience that not only captures behind-the-scenes moments, but restores them for future generations." ― TIME “Andy Saunders is a go-to guy for restoring photographs that seem beyond hope. His new book, Apollo Remastered, reveals what happened when this British imaging specialist turned his hand to humanity's ultimate adventure...However much you think you know the Apollo images, never have they been seen quite like this…“ ― National Geographic UK "A masterpiece."― Tim Peake, British ESA Astronaut Andy Saunders's remastered images are so clear and real that they are the next best thing to being there... They are an exact representation of what I remember from my journey to the Moon on Apollo 16. These photos reveal very precisely what the Moon was really like.― Charlie Duke, Apollo 16 The images Andy Saunders has produced from the 50 year old original film are just incredible . I have personally checked the images in the book, and if you want to know what it was really like on the Apollo missions, then this is for you. The photographs capture the pioneering era I took part in perfectly, and the techniques Andy has used have brought out such fantastic detail from that old original film we took back in the 60s. Maintaining an accurate record of these historic moments is such important work not just now, after half a century, but also for future generations.― Walter Cunningham, Apollo 7 Andy Saunders' remastered images leave me stunned. They give me chills. This is as close as any of us will get to joining the Apollo astronauts on their historic missions to the moon - and it's a lot closer than we ever thought possible. This book, like all of his work, is much more than a thrill to behold; it's a profound contribution to our understanding of humanity's exploration of the heavens.― Jeff Shesol, author of Mercury Rising Seeing historians like Andy Saunders produce such cutting-edge results is incredible . . . Not only has Andy done a remarkable job bringing more details to light, but his incredible work has also created a lot of public excitement.― Dr. Brian Odom, acting NASA Chief Historian A peerless photographic masterpiece - almost as audacious as Apollo itself. If you only buy one Apollo before the decade is out make sure it's this one! A total treasure to pore over for a lifetime. ― Dr. Chris Riley, BAFTA nominated writer, filmmaker and co-producer of In The Shadow Of The Moon Andy Saunders' remarkable digital imaging skills are rewriting space history. Saunders is doing for Project Apollo what the James Webb Space Telescope has done for astronomy: bringing our greatest adventure into sharp and arresting focus. ― George Leopold, author of the Supersonic Life & Times Of Gus Grissom Even though I worked for NASA for 40 years, I can only view the work Andy does in digital restoration of analog imagery as innovative, creative, and a gift to the world. The precision, the detail, and the validity of his work on the old film from early human spaceflight is breathtaking to me - such incredible valuable results and contributions to these historic events. ― Jim Lewis, Command Recovery Pilot, Liberty Bell 7 After five decades, it's very rare that something comes along from Apollo that genuinely surprises me... but this is truly special. It changes everything, in an instant. ― Mark McCaughrean, Senior Advisor for Science and Exploration, European Space Agency "It’s hard to believe the detail that Andy has pulled out of the old Apollo film, especially the underexposed shots like the one I took of Jim McDivitt that he’s used on cover of this incredible book. The first time I saw it I was just blown away, it’s just magical. Apollo Remastered is a truly valuable record, and a great contribution to the history of human spaceflight." ― Rusty Schweickart - Apollo 9 LMP "In Mission Control, back in the day, imagination pieced together grainy television images, crew voice reports and the flight plan to portray mission events. Now, for the first time, Apollo Remastered brings the glory of Apollo and the explorers into sharp focus. Fifty years later, I can finally look over the shoulder of Mike Collins and Al Bean and see what they saw... I become part of the experience, as if I were a member of the crew."― Gene Kranz, Apollo Flight Director “ Apollo Remastered is a fine collection of remastered photographs that depicts the real essence of the Apollo program.xa0It brought back many memories of my time during the missions - an incredible book that will surely be enjoyed for many generations to come."― Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 Commander Andy Saunders is one of the world's foremost experts of NASA digital restoration. His work has been exhibited at museums, and appeared in BBC News , Daily Telegraph, Smithsonian's Air & Space Magazine, Ars Technica, The Washington Post , as well as in NASA's own archives. He lives in Manchester, England.

Features & Highlights

  • Published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the last steps taken on the moon, this unique, definitive book about the Apollo missions reveals hundreds of extraordinary, newly-restored, and all-new images from the NASA archives that provide a never-before-seen perspective on the Apollo endeavors.
  • In Houston, Texas, there is a frozen vault that preserves the original NASA photographic film of the Apollo missions. For half a century, almost every image of the Moon landings publicly available was produced from a lower-quality copy of these frozen originals. Over the last few years, NASA image restorer Andy Saunders has been working hard. Taking newly available digital scans and applying pain-staking care and cutting-edge enhancement techniques, he has created the highest quality Apollo photographs ever produced. Never-before-seen spacewalks and crystal-clear portraits of astronauts in their spacecraft, along with startling new visions of the Earth and the Moon, offer astounding new insight into one of our greatest endeavors.This is the definitive record of all Apollo missions and a mesmerizing, high-definition journey into the unknown.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

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(211)
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(126)
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Most Helpful Reviews

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First time in years I've gotten chills from Apollo photographs

"Apollo Remastered" is an awful lot to unpack. I know it's a terrible cliche, but the old saying "you've never seen it like this before!" has never been truer. While most photographs from the Apollo missions are copies of copies, the ones presented here are derived from super-high-resolution scans of original films kept in cold storage since 1972. I'm not really a fan of hyperbole, but I genuinely found myself gasping at times, mouthing "oh my god!" and "holy crap!" and just generally having a hard time trying to grasp just how much better even the familiar iconic images looked. This is the first time in years I've seen pictures from the Apollo missions, and genuinely got chills. Even the lunar surface looks a lot less depressing and slightly more colorful this time around. The Earth has never seemed so beautiful and fragile, the depths of space so black, or the Moon's terrain so richly detailed and varied. The panoramic views, including five gatefolds stretching nearly three feet, are seamlessly executed and a joy to study.

The format is quite simple. After a brief "prologue" that presents a number of images from the Mercury, Gemini, and early unmanned Apollo missions, each mission receives a two-page introduction, before moving on to the images themselves. Andy Saunders avoids a common art book pratfall by including quite a bit of information on each picture immediately beneath it, including lens type, focal length, photographer, NASA ID, and whether the image was cropped, rotated, had fiducials removed, etc.

The images consist entirely of ones either taken by the astronauts themselves or by cameras onboard the spacecraft, the majority of them by the well-known Hasselblad 70mm HDC, HEC, and SWC cameras, along with a handful of images from the Metric Mapping camera and Panoramic camera housed within the J-mission SIM bays. There's also a surprising number of images taken by the 16mm Data Acquisition Cameras showing life onboard, which have been stacked, processed, and remastered to provide a much cleaner image than what we're used to.

Although I could probably spend a long time raving about my favorite images, I'll keep things "short" and let the attached images do the talking. If I have to complain, I feel some of the blurrier images, although historically significant, could have been replaced by higher-quality photographs. The glossy black paper is also frustratingly prone to fingerprints. Putting that aside, I feel that any serious Apollo buff owes it to themselves to spend a few weeks studying this book and remembering exactly WHY they originally became interested in the subject. According to Andy Saunders's Instagram page, he's already received the go-ahead from his publisher to start working on a "Gemini Remastered," so better start saving up!
23 people found this helpful
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Fantastic phots0. Glossy black pages hold fingerprints.

Overall this is a a fantastic book. Amazing large full page photos with the descriptive text all contained int he preface for each chapter with minimal text on the images themselves so you can really enjoy them.
Definitely worth the buy.
I only deducted 1 star bc you almost have to read this with gloves on bc the glossy black pages take fingerprints & dirt really easily and are almost impossible to clean afterwards without damaging the book.
4 people found this helpful
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Once again an excellent book arrives damaged because of poor packaging and greasy fingerprits

Excellent book but once again a heavy book arrives damaged because of poor packaging. USE SOME COMMON SENSE AMAZON AND TAKE A FEW SECONDS TO PACKAGE A HEAVY AND EXPENSIVE BOOK PROPERLY
3 people found this helpful
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Book is amazing. Shipping package was horrible

The book is absolutely amazing, 5 stars all the way. The shipping package was horrible, hence the one star. Basically a box about as thick as the book and about 1.25 times the length and 1.25 times the width. And the book was just placed in there so it was able to slide around. Luckily the book was in thick plastic wrapping so it came out with only slight damage. However, to package such a marvelous and beautiful book in such and uncaring manner really makes you wonder what is going on at Amazon. Didn't Amazon start out just selling books? You would think by now they would have how to package a book for shipping figured out.
3 people found this helpful
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Masterpiece!

There have been a number of excellent Apollo photograph collections in different formats. While these efforts have been impressive, Andy Saunders from the U.K. has produced what may be the ultimate book of Apollo photographs. Just published here in the U.S., “Apollo Remastered” is not “light” reading— it is 1 x 1 feet, weighs 7 pounds, and contains 444 pages. Andy has gone through NASA archives and lovingly restored hundreds of images, giving new life to even familiar Apollo images. I am in awe of the time it took to select and prepare the images. There are many I have seen for the first time. The book is not cheap ($75 cover price, $55.99 on Amazon), but it is well worth it, and would make a great holiday gift for that space enthusiast in your family. Highly recommended!
3 people found this helpful
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BUY THIS BOOK! THE MOST IMPRESSIVE COLLECTION OF APOLLO IMAGES EVER!

THANK YOU, Andy Saunders!

Your efforts in preserving these images is as inspirational as the men and missions they document. A space fan all my life, I am absolutely gobsmacked by what I’m seeing on these pages. The color, the detail, and the STUNNING vibrancy on every page is astonishing and unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

You’ve given another generation the precious gift that is Apollo’s legacy of inspiration, and you’ve done a tremendous service to history. BRAVO!!!

Folks…this book is out today. If you’re looking for a birthday gift or a holiday gift this season that is sure to be a hit, look no further than this book! Even someone with a casual interest would be blown away!
3 people found this helpful
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So Very Worth the Price

I'm a huge fan of all things related to the early space program and after waffling for a while, I pulled the trigger and ordered this book. To say I was blown away is a massive understatement. The book is massive, and even super famous images that we've all seen many times before take on a whole new look thanks to modern image processing techniques including stacking, the same techniques astronomers have used for two decades to draw out details can't be seen using a single image.

The quality of the binding is first class, and the pages are heavy stock that give the book an elegant, impressive feel. For me however, two of the coolest things about the book are that there are several fold out panorama images that help convey the sheer scale of the subjects. The second thing that realy grabbed my attention is a section at the back that describes the techniques used to enhance the photos along with before and after comparisons. One of the most dramatic is the image on the slip cover of the book itself. In the original, underexposed image there's almost no way to see the astronaut and after processing the image becomes an almost haunting photo that really conveys a sense of loneliness.

I loved this book enough to buy two more copies for my brother and brother-in-law, and I'm delighted with it on every level.
2 people found this helpful
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Like you're right there

Yes, this book is expensive. Yes, this book is big and heavy. Yes, this book is about a somewhat arcane subject.

None of that matters, because Yes, you should Buy This Book. The photos are beyond stunning, both for the subject matter and the astonishing clarity that modern techniques can bring to bear. I grew up with the space program and these photos make it more real to me than the actual broadcasts at the time,
2 people found this helpful
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This is THE book for any NASA fan to have

Apollo Remastered totally exceeded my expectations. The large format printing of each photo takes you inside the moment to see a level of detail and grandeur of Apollo that you've never quite seen before. The associated captions, quality of the book, sheer amount of new content, and more make this a MUST HAVE for any NASA fan. Trust me when I say that just when you think you know it all or you've seen it all, you'll turn the page and pick up on something that takes your breath away. So grab a cup of coffee, settle down into that couch, open this book, and take a ride from the Earth to the Moon!
2 people found this helpful
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Amazing Book

I grew up in the time of Apollo, this book has some amazingly beautiful images, some that I have not seen before. Want to learn more about the Apollo missions, look this book over, I guarantee you will be spending hours looking at the photos, reading the text, and immersing yourself in history. And to think these images were taken on film cameras and not digital.
1 people found this helpful