September 1, 2025

— As astronomers attest, the deeper you look out into space, the farther back in time you see. As Andy Saunders illustrates, the same can said for astronaut photography.

Saunders, whose previous title "Apollo Remastered" literally changed the way we can see the visual record of the first missions to fly humans to the moon, is now back with "Gemini and Mercury Remastered." This new collection of hundreds of restored photos provides a clearer view of the U.S. programs that made reaching the lunar surface possible.

"Even before finishing 'Apollo Remastered,' I knew Mercury and Gemini had to be next," said 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," said Saunders.

"Gemini and Mercury Remastered." Click to enlarge video in new window. (Apollo Remastered)

As Saunders discovered, though, despite his extensive experience gained while processing the Apollo archives, there were new challenges to tackle the earlier material. After all, photography was just as new to spaceflight as the astronauts were during those early days.

collectSPACE (cS): How was working on "Gemini and Mercury Remastered" more of a challenge 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 terms of the source material, Gemini was in a decent state but sadly the Mercury original film evidently wasn't handled and stored so well back in the day, and needed more restoration work. It's to be expected — historical preservation wasn't paramount during the very early days, it was all about technically assessing the imagery and moving to the next 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 anything you really wanted to achieve or include in "Gemini and Mercury" that you could not due to 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 as the film went to the bottom of the ocean with Liberty Bell 7, so I used recovery footage here. [Scott] Carpenter's film was badly water damaged on splashdown and could never be properly developed — I've done my best with this though. And there's nothing of Michael Collins' rather eventful EVA, because he lost 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 still Apollo veterans alive to see your work in "Remastered." There are no Mercury astronauts and only a few Gemini astronauts still alive. Did that change how you approached this new book?

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 still been so special to have some input though from Dave Scott for example, and Ed White's family were thrilled that he's on the cover. Jim Lovell, who, of course, sadly passed away last month, told me the restored images brought back so many memories for him. That was very moving.

"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 anything you found while working on "Gemini and Mercury" that surprised 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 an image suddenly comes into focus, when colors leap back to life, when lost detail reappears — it feels like archaeology. Like brushing dust off a hidden treasure that's been buried for decades. It's a thrill every 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 way to museum and gallery exhibitions, as well as "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 be an accompanying exhibition at Jodrell Bank and the Royal Albert Hall in the UK this year. It would be great to get the photographic exhibitions to the U.S. too if there are any keen venues. There's certainly the potential for multimedia projects, too, perhaps but nothing in the pipeline yet. Right now I'm just excited to get the book itself into people's hands.

cS: If readers do not yet have "Apollo Remastered," do you suggest they get that first, before "Gemini and Mercury"? Has there been any talk of a two-book set?

Saunders: They're companion volumes, but independent. 'Gemini and Mercury' is very much the prequel — how we learned to fly in space, the bold experiments, the risks, the near-misses. 'Apollo Remastered' is the story of taking those lessons 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 not 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 limited amount of actual photography on Mercury, but a huge amount on Gemini. As the Mercury missions were shorter, they also required less in terms of telling the stories. So the vast majority of the book is Project Gemini. It felt like that needed to be the main title. It's also timed for the 60th anniversaries and it's this program that has received the least attention to date.

"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 released by Black Dog & Leventhal, part of the Hachette Book Group, on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025.