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The end of July marked the 50th anniversary of Apollo 15. (NASA / JSC / ASU / Andy Saunders)
The end of July marked the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 15 mission. And now, thanks to Andy Saunders’ restoration of mission images, we can take a crystal-clear look at the past.
Apollo 15 took astronauts David R. Scott and James B. Irwin to the surface of the moon. The two, along with Alfred M. Worden, who remained in orbit, entered lunar orbit on July 29, 1971 and spent their time on the moon performing spacewalks and collecting 170 pounds of samples. rock and soil, USAToday reported.
During the mission, Worden made observations and took pictures from orbit while his teammates were on the lunar surface. Saunders, author of “Apollo Remastered”, used Worden’s photos and restored them for a clearer picture.
“I have always been fascinated by the Apollo missions since childhood,” Saunders told weather.com in an interview. “As a photographer, I’ve always been frustrated by the lack of a picture of Neil Armstrong on the moon (he was holding the camera so almost all of them are from Aldrin). One of the most important moments of the story – how can that be? So, I produced one from the small format 16mm film “film” using an unusual stacking technique. The Apollo 15 footage does not use not this source or technique, however, they are based on the original Hasselbald photographic film. “
After the public reaction to Armstrong’s image in 2019, Saunders made it a personal project to sift through 35,000 photographs and hours of 16mm film from the Apollo missions, looking for opportunities to reveal new details and reprocess about 1,500 of the best he could. find.
“A quick online search will show just how poorly these incredible moments in history are,” Saunders said. “This is in part because almost all of the photographs we have seen of Apollo were based on duplicate film. Copies of a copy, of a copy, etc. It is also a very long process and thorough to really get the most out of old analog film that was never meant to be digitally digitized, of course. “
The newly remastered footage uses newly developed ultra-high-resolution raw scans of the original flight film to bring unprecedented clarity to these historic moments.
Saunders shared that from a photographic standpoint, Apollo 9 is one of his favorite Apollo missions, and Apollo 15 ranks among his favorites because of the size of the landing site. (See his video which zooms in a single image in lunar orbit on the surface.)
“Apollo 17 has a huge proportion of quality shots, but there is something very special about every mission,” Saunders said. “Each also has enormous historical significance.”
Several hundred images of Saunders will be published in an upcoming book, “Apollo Remastered”, with explanatory captions and quotes from the astronauts themselves.
“My childhood interest in moon landings never really went away, but as I get older and the missions drift further into the past, I appreciate more and more how much of an amazing feat it was – accomplish this half a century ago! It is the absolute pinnacle of human effort. I want to make sure people remember these amazing times, a reminder of what we can all do when we work together – and also inspire people and look forward to NASA’s return to the moon with Artemis, ” he explained.
Click the slideshow above to see restored images of Apollo 15, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.
The main journalistic mission of The Weather Company is to report on the latest weather news, the environment and the importance of science in our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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