Andy Saunders is one of the world's foremost experts of NASA digital restoration and author of the Sunday Times bestselling Apollo Remastered. His work has been exhibited internationally, and he collaborated with Tom Hanks to produce The Moonwalkers - an immersive show telling the story of the Apollo missions. His photographs have also appeared in BBC News, Daily Telegraph, Smithsonian Magazine, New York Times, as well as in NASA's own archives. In 2019, he created the only clear, recognisable image of Neil Armstrong on the Moon, and in 2023, he received the Royal Photographic Society Award for Scientific Imaging.
Just like the Mercury astronauts before me, I witnessed the Earth as it truly is for the first time aboard Gemini 7 and 12. These remastered photos, in such detail and clarity, bring back clear memories of my journeys into space. Andy Saunders not only brings to the surface the value of the Mercury and Gemini programs, but more importantly, allows people around the world to experience the same incredible awe of our beautiful Earth as the astronauts did on those very first voyages into space -- Jim Lovell, Gemini 7 & 12, Apollo 8 & 13 Turning the pages of Gemini & Mercury Remastered triggered many strong emotions - it provides an unprecedented trip back in time to the beginning of our nation’s manned space program. We had a lot to learn, and it was often luck that got us home. After Mercury, three impossibly short years remained to develop and prove the capabilities for Apollo, during Project Gemini. All of this history is covered extensively in the book via the new imagery, captions and Saunders’ expert research. Throughout, I see faces that I came to know so well and, for the first time after 60 years, Saunders’ magic touch has allowed us all to see them in sharp focus during their groundbreaking missions. The restored images bring everything to life - they are a vibrant, new, living record of ‘our time’ - depicting perfectly the character of the men, the passion to achieve the next ‘first’, and the whole era of early human space exploration for which I was a part -- Gene Kranz, Flight Director - Mercury, Gemini & Apollo