‘Gemini and Mercury Remastered’ brings new readability to NASA’s early spaceflights

September 1, 2025

— As astronomers attest, the deeper you look out into area, the farther again in time you see. As Andy Saunders illustrates, the identical can mentioned for astronaut pictures.

Saunders, whose earlier title “Apollo Remastered” actually modified the way in which we are able to see the visible report of the primary missions to fly people to the moon, is now again with “Gemini and Mercury Remastered.” This new assortment of lots of of restored photographs offers a clearer view of the U.S. packages that made reaching the lunar floor attainable.

“Even before finishing ‘Apollo Remastered,’ I knew Mercury and Gemini had to be next,” mentioned Saunders in an interview. “These weren’t just technical milestones in spaceflight — they were milestones in human history. The early 1960s was the golden era when humanity’s ancient dream of leaving Earth and reaching for the stars finally became reality. They gave us our very first view back at our planet, too, which changed everything. The familiar frustration for me was that so much of the imagery remained unseen or poorly reproduced. I wanted to change that, to restore it properly, so that for the first time we can see this era as it truly looked.”

“Gemini in particular has never received enough attention. When you consider how important the program was — not only with these missions being the key stepping stones to the moon, but they’re the very foundation of spaceflight — testing and proving all of the key concepts that are still used to this day. And the pace of development was incredible: 10 missions in 20 months, and they truly were pushing the boundaries. I think a lot of people will be amazed at the risks that were taken. The missions are bursting with human drama — and I wanted to tell those stories alongside the new imagery,” mentioned Saunders.

As Saunders found, although, regardless of his in depth expertise gained whereas processing the Apollo archives, there have been new challenges to deal with the sooner materials. After all, pictures was simply as new to spaceflight because the astronauts had been throughout these early days.

collectSPACE (cS): How was engaged on “Gemini and Mercury Remastered” extra of a problem than “Apollo Remastered”?

Andy Saunders: “On the technical side, I already had a toolkit of remastering techniques honed during ‘Apollo Remastered.’ I knew how to get the best from the scans, and to cope with all the movement when trying to layer a thousand frames of ‘movie’ film. Having been through the pain of assembling a complex book the first time, I also had a sense of how to structure, caption, and cross-reference everything.

“In phrases of the supply materials, Gemini was in an honest state however sadly the Mercury unique movie evidently wasn’t dealt with and saved so effectively again within the day, and wanted extra restoration work. It’s to be anticipated — historic preservation wasn’t paramount in the course of the very early days, it was all about technically assessing the imagery and shifting to the following mission.

“The main challenge, though, was that the archive and the historical record wasn’t as well organized or complete as Apollo, and there were errors, too. My aim was to reconstruct every mission, from launch to splashdown, so I used the time-stamped audio transcripts, orbital data, Google Earth, mission reports, astronaut memoirs, film frame rates and any clues I could glean from the images themselves to trace what was happening frame by frame. This took an enormous amount of time, but the result is like a visual documentary: a blow-by-blow account of how we conquered space.”

cS: Was there something you actually wished to realize or embrace in “Gemini and Mercury” that you could possibly not as a consequence of accessibility constraints?

Saunders: “Not so much ‘missing pieces’ as the limitations of what survives. Some film just didn’t survive well, some moments were never photographed in the first place.

“There’s nothing from [Virgil ‘Gus’] Grissom’s Mercury flight because the movie went to the underside of the ocean with Liberty Bell 7, so I used restoration footage right here. [Scott] Carpenter’s movie was badly water broken on splashdown and will by no means be correctly developed — I’ve executed my greatest with this although. And there’s nothing of Michael Collins’ fairly eventful EVA, as a result of he misplaced his Hasselblad!

“But I think people will be astonished at how much was captured. Despite what they were trying to achieve, and all of the complexity and the risk, they took cameras (often multiple cameras) on all missions to document everything for technical assessment. It just needed careful work to peel away the layers of aging, and degradation, and noise to bring this history back to life.”

cS: There are nonetheless Apollo veterans alive to see your work in “Remastered.” There are not any Mercury astronauts and just a few Gemini astronauts nonetheless alive. Did that change the way you approached this new ebook?

Saunders: “Not really. With Apollo I had the privilege of showing many of the astronauts the work as it progressed, and their input was invaluable, but it’s still relevant for Gemini and Mercury. It’s all about the particular visual in space.

“It’s nonetheless been so particular to have some enter although from Dave Scott for instance, and Ed White’s household had been thrilled that he is on the quilt. Jim Lovell, who, in fact, sadly handed away final month, advised me the restored photographs introduced again so many recollections for him. That was very shifting.

“So there’s been an added sense of responsibility — to ensure authenticity, so families and future generations can connect with these stories just as powerfully. Lovell wanted the book to share with the world the awe and wonder he experienced looking out of those windows, and for it to remind us all of the beauty of our home planet. I really hope it can do that.”

cS: Was there something you discovered whereas engaged on “Gemini and Mercury” that shocked you?

Saunders: “Constantly. The raw NASA scans often look flat or lifeless at first glance, but hidden within them is a huge amount of visual information.

“When a picture instantly comes into focus, when colours leap again to life, when misplaced element reappears — it seems like archaeology. Like brushing mud off a hidden treasure that is been buried for many years. It’s a thrill each time!

“And there’s just so, so many things I’d either forgotten, or learned for the first time and I think it will really hit home when you read them. Much of it was found in the transcripts, as the astronauts were chatting among themselves at quiet times of the missions. Of course I had to read every word that was spoken on every mission from start to finish, and weave it into the imagery or captions. But I can’t say that was a chore, it’s just heart-pounding drama and wonder!”

cS: “Apollo Remastered” gave solution to museum and gallery exhibitions, in addition to “The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks.” Do you anticipate any spinoffs from “Gemini and Mercury”?

Saunders: “It’s still early, but I’d love to see these images presented in the same way — big, immersive, and experiential. The sense of discovery is so powerful when the colors leap to life and the details emerge in front of you.

“There will probably be an accompanying exhibition at Jodrell Bank and the Royal Albert Hall within the UK this yr. It could be nice to get the photographic exhibitions to the U.S. too if there are any eager venues. There’s actually the potential for multimedia initiatives, too, maybe however nothing within the pipeline but. Right now I’m simply excited to get the ebook itself into individuals’s arms.

cS: If readers don’t but have “Apollo Remastered,” do you recommend they get that first, earlier than “Gemini and Mercury”? Has there been any discuss of a two-book set?

Saunders: They’re companion volumes, however unbiased. ‘Gemini and Mercury’ could be very a lot the prequel — how we discovered to fly in area, the daring experiments, the dangers, the near-misses. ‘Apollo Remastered‘ is the story of taking these classes to the moon.

“If you want the full arc, you really need both, but I would say that wouldn’t I! There has been talk of a two-book set, which would make sense, because together they tell the complete story, from our first view of the curvature of Earth, to our last footprints on the moon.”

cS: Why is it “Gemini and Mercury Remastered” and never vice versa?

Saunders: “Great question — I expected to be asked this relentlessly, as it’s exactly what I would ask, but you’re genuinely the first!

“There’s a restricted quantity of precise pictures on Mercury, however an enormous quantity on Gemini. As the Mercury missions had been shorter, additionally they required much less when it comes to telling the tales. So the overwhelming majority of the ebook is Project Gemini. It felt like that wanted to be the primary title. It’s additionally timed for the sixtieth anniversaries and it is this program that has acquired the least consideration so far.

“Mercury is vital though, and the internal shots have an emotional depth to them now, and so these stories and all the imagery were still fundamental to include. So ‘Gemini and Mercury’ it is, rather than a chronological title.”

Andy Saunders’ “Gemini and Mercury Remastered” was launched by Black Dog & Leventhal, a part of the Hachette Book Group, on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025.