Apollospace® proudly presents the most comprehensive collection of fully restored and enhanced Apollo flight images at the highest quality and resolution available!

FIRST STEPS: THE COMPLETE MISSION PHOTOGRAPHS APOLLO 7 – APOLLO 11

THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION OF OVER 5000 FULLY RESTORED ULTRA-HIGH RESOLUTION APOLLO FLIGHT IMAGES

PLUS FOUR EXCLUSIVE ASTRONAUT DOCUMENTARIES

4 Apollo Reflections Series Short films totaling approximately 2 1/2 hours

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This lot contains two commemorative Apollo Saturn V-shaped USBs. The first, “First Steps” contains every flight image from the first Apollo flight of Apollo 7 to the first steps on the Moon and safe return of Apollo 11. This commemorative Apollo 50th Anniversary Custom Saturn V 64 MB USB features EVERY PHOTO taken by the astronauts from the FIRST FIVE APOLLO MISSIONS! Every flight image from Apollo 7, Apollo 8, Apollo 9, Apollo 10, and Apollo 11 is included in this incredible and unparalleled collection – over 5000 ultra-high-resolution images, fully restored and corrected digital images at the highest resolution and quality ever made available, all on a 64 GB commemorative custom Saturn V USB.

PLUS! Included in this lot is an additional Saturn V USB featuring four exclusive documentary short films featuring the reflections of Apollo astronauts totaling over 2 1/2 of exclusive interviews as well as hundreds of additional mission-related photographs and NASA documents. The Apollo Reflections films look back at the memories and imagery of the Apollo era as well as the influences the Apollo Program had on those who participated in it. Experience the wonder of Apollo and space exploration through the stories of people who were there.

Reflections: Apollo 7 in Pictures and Words, with Walt Cunningham

Created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo era, beginning with the launch of Apollo 7 in October, 1968, the first film in the series was released in October, 2018 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 7. “Reflections: Apollo 7 in Pictures and Words,” features the best Apollo 7 photography and archival media described by the sole remaining crewman from that mission: Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham. In this 23 minute film, released on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 7 launch on October 11, 2018, Walt reflects on his NASA career, some of his favorite Apollo images, and the future of spaceflight. The interview with Walt was shot in 4K at his home on August 30, 2018. The film runs 23 minutes.

Rusty Schweickart: Apollo 9 & Beyond

Our fourth film in the “Apollo Reflections” series, this one featuring Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, Apollo 9 Lunar Module Pilot. In this profoundly beautiful and moving film, Apollo 9 Astronaut Rusty Schweickart discusses the Apollo 9 mission, his life-altering spacewalk, and our cosmic birth. Rusty describes testing the Lunar Module, the first true spaceship that would four months later land men on the moon; his historic spacewalk, the first EVA of the Apollo era; and the incredible beauty of the Earth from space.

Beyond the Apollo 9 mission itself, Rusty goes much deeper to explore the philosophical and evolutionary implications of humanity’s first steps into the cosmos, describing the powerful effects of his “five minutes” alone on the Lunar Module porch as he observed the Earth below and pondered the big questions of existence – questions he would come to answer back on Earth. The film is in 4K with a run time of 48 minutes.

Apollo Reflections: The General on Gemini & Apollo

Our third short in the “Apollo Reflections” series, “Apollo Reflections: The General on Gemini & Apollo” features Gemini and Apollo astronaut Gen. Tom Stafford.

In the film General Stafford discusses all four of his missions, from his first, GT-6, which featured the first rendezvous of two spacecraft in orbit, to his last, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) and the first docking of two international spacecraft. In between, he confronted angry alligators, endured spacewalks from hell, barnstormed the moon, brought a tumbling spaceship back under control, and became (as he remains to this day) the fastest man alive. Stafford also discusses his childhood inspirations, the significance and legacy of Apollo, the lessons and implications for humanity for international cooperation, seeing the Earth from space, and his thoughts on the future.
The interview was shot in 4K on May 19, 2019, at Gen. Stafford’s name-sake museum and at a public event at his alma mater high school in Weatherford, OK, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his Apollo 10 flight. The film runs approximately 45 minutes. 

Reflections: Apollo 13 in Pictures and Words

Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise tells the heroic story of Apollo 13

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 13, Apollospace presents, “Reflections: Apollo 13 in Pictures and Words,” featuring Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise telling stories of the mission accompanied by our best Apollo 13 photography. In this 26-minute film, Fred reflects on his military and NASA careers, the launch of Apollo 13 and initial photographic tasks and equipment, the oxygen tank “explosion,” the problems with CO2 and the lithium hydroxide cartridges, the mission’s best lunar photography, the story and promise of Apollo, and the future of humanity. The interview with Fred was shot in 4K on August 30, 2018. The film runs approximately 26 minutes.

Praise for the First Steps Images Collection and the Apollo Reflections short film series:

“Astronaut Rusty Schweickart’s story is one of the great ones, and the way this film [“Rusty Schweickart: Apollo 9 & Beyond”] tells the story has its own greatness,” – Stewart Brand, co-founder of Long Now Foundation and creator and editor of the Whole Earth Catalog (National Book Award).

“What was the real meaning of Apollo? The big meaning? That’s what I asked myself anticipating the 50th anniversary of that historic moment. Jeremy Theoret captured it in this film… this is what I believe. No small challenge.” – Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart.

“I am proud and honored to have been helpful in producing the beautiful piece of art that is this film. From the music to the visuals to what comes out of the mind of an amazing human being, this is a seamless and for me deeply emotional work that is a major contribution to the annals of space and also human history … You have produced something very special with this … What I get from it cannot be measured in any form of currency … I want to savor the incredibly warm feeling this film has given me, thank you for that gift.” – Martin Lollar, crowdfunding executive producer of the film.

“Can’t thank you enough for the ‘flash drive’ with all the Apollo 13 photos … A lot of my life has been dedicated to the Space Program and I appreciate your interest in assuring that material that might be lost over the years is being preserved through your effort.” Fred Haise, Apollo 13 LMP

“… they are without a doubt the highest quality image archive I have seen, and you need to be congratulated on the work and effort you have gone to!” Max A.

“THANK YOU so much for the Apollo 9 flight image collection … These images are by far the BEST resolution I have ever seen from Apollo 9… and the entire catalog taboot!  Again, I can’t say thank you enough.”  Matt P.

I have just reviewed the film you produced and it looks perfect to me. I think you did an outstanding job of capturing the important points that you wanted to bring out concerning the Gemini and Apollo programs.” Gen. Tom Stafford, Gemini 6, 9, Apollo 10, & ASTP astronaut

“… great productions. I like your down to earth more informal interview style …Keep up the good work. NASA has lots of oral history but it is not as interesting and personalized as what you create … Thanks for your great work preserving some history from those who flew!” Fred Haise, Apollo 13 LMP

what a wonderful and amazing film. Fred Haise provides such a terrific narrative. The clarity of the filming of Fred’s historical and anecdotal recounting as well as the crystal-clear photographs is remarkable … It gives me great pride to have my name associated with this film and thank you for the exquisite and professional product.” – Arthur Siemientkowski, producer of Apollo 13 in Pictures and Words.

“Amazing quality images … I hope more people see the work you are doing it is truly amazing! It’s a gold mine for those who know it!”

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More About the Images

From the first flight of Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission to fly…

The First Steps Saturn V USB contains 534 ultra-high resolution flight images from the historic Apollo 7 Mission every photograph taken by the astronauts during this historic mission.  All images contained on this USB are jpeg files that measure 5000 x 5000 pixels at 300 dpi with the least compression and possible.
… to the bold venture to the moon of Apollo 8, the second manned Apollo mission and the first to venture to the moon…
The First Steps Saturn V USB contains 867 ultra-high resolution flight images from the historic Apollo 8 Mission – every photograph taken by the astronauts during this historic mission.  All images contained on this USB are jpeg files that measure 5000 x 5000 pixels at 300 dpi with the least compression and possible.
… to the first test of the lunar module during Apollo 9, the first full stack manned Saturn V Apollo mission and first to fly the Lunar Module…
The First Steps Saturn V USB contains 792 ultra-high resolution flight images from the historic Apollo 9 Mission – every photograph taken by the astronauts during this historic mission.  All images contained on this USB are jpeg files that measure 5000 x 5000 pixels at 300 dpi with the least compression and possible.
… to the final dress rehearsal of Apollo 10, the second manned Apollo mission to orbit the Moon and the final “dress rehearsal” before the manned landing of Apollo 11…
The First Steps Saturn V USB contains 1437 ultra-high resolution flight images from the historic Apollo 10 Mission – every photograph taken by the astronauts during this historic mission.  All images contained on this USB are jpeg files with the least compression possible.  Color photo magazines (27N, 34M, and 35U) measure 5000 x 5000 pixels at 300 dpi. Black & white photo magazines (28O, 29P, 30Q, 31R, 32S, and 33T) measure 4000 x 4000 pixels at 300 dpi.
… and finally the fulfillment of Kennedy’s challenge with Apollo 11, the first manned landing on the Moon…
The First Steps Saturn V USB contains 1409 ultra-high resolution flight images from the historic Apollo 11 Mission – every photograph taken by the astronauts during this historic mission.  All images contained on this USB are jpeg files with the least compression possible.  Color photo magazines (36N, 37R, 40S, and 44V) measure 5000 x 5000 pixels at 300 dpi. Black & white photo magazines (38O, 39Q, 41P, 42V, and 43T) measure 4000 x 4000 pixels at 300 dpi.
But this collection is more than the iconic images, it includes every photograph taken by the astronauts during these historic missions.
The over 5000 ultra-high resolution photographs in this definitive collection have each painstakingly been restored to the highest quality and resolution, painstakingly cleaned of dust, scanlines, scratches, hair and every other blemish (usually hundreds, and often thousands, of corrections per image!) down to the pixel level to create the highest quality highest resolution Apollo imagery ever made available.
About the Saturn V USBs:
The commemorative 50th anniversary Saturn V custom shaped USBs measure approximately 4.75 inches high and .75 inches in diameter.
The First Steps USB is a 64GB drive – with over enough data to fill nearly 14 DVDs containing over 5000 ultra-high resolution JPEG images measuring up to 5000 pixels at 300dpi.  Each image has been completely and fully restored from the most recent and highest resolution NASA/JSC scans.  Most of the raw public domain Apollo images (including all color images) used in creating the images found in this collection were acquired from Arizona State University (ASU), pursuant to an Agreement with NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) for scanning NASA’s collection of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo imagery in the highest resolutions ever made available.  Raw black and white images not yet available through ASU were acquired from the National Archives and/or NASA/JSC images sources.
Each image was lovingly and painstakingly corrected and enhanced as follows:
The borders of each image were cropped off and the images were then corrected for tone, color, and contrast.
One of the chief challenges in the raw scanned images is the lack of contrast, which results in the images having a ghostly fog.  Among the observations of space by the astronauts themselves is how inky black space is.  Thus, during processing, one of the main aims is to achieve as black a sky as possible without losing image details.

Because the images were shot at various exposures and lighting conditions, there is a wide contrast variation in original scanned images.  For aesthetic and other reasons, the images have been processed to reveal as much detail as possible.  For example, images of the lunar surface from orbit with the sun directly overhead are overexposed and, lacking shadows, the surface lacks detail and appears flat.  Such images have been processed to bring out the most detail possible, which generally results in them appearing much darker in comparison to other images but allows for better detail in crater rays.
The images are then blown up to their maximum resolution and cleaned of scratches, blemishes, dust, hair, scanning lines and other defects. It is not uncommon for a single image to require hundreds of corrective actions to clean the image of blemishes, faults, and defects. The end result are the cleanest images available anywhere, even at maximum resolution, without the distracting blemishes found in raw images and most corrected images available elsewhere.  As seen in some of the samples below, it is common for images to require as many as several hundred corrective actions to achieve the enhanced images available at Apollospace!

 The images are further corrected and enhanced to provide clarity and consistency.   Levels and colors are balanced to make viewing the images, individually and as part of a slide show, as seamless and pleasing as possible.
In short, literally hundreds of thousands of blemishes were removed from the over 5000 photos in this collection.
But more than an historical record of one of the greatest accomplishments in human history, these images are art.   Each Apollo era photograph appearing on this site was taken by a human hand and with a human eye.  50 years later, each one has been restored, corrected, and enhanced with a human eye as well, to be as visually pleasing as they are historically and naturally accurate.

If a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, then the story of Apollo, told through the nearly 20,000 photographs taken during the eleven manned Apollo missions between 1968 and 1972, would literally take tens of millions of words to tell.
The Apollo Program was, undoubtedly, one of the greatest accomplishments in human history.  Human beings, for the first time, left the Earth and gazed back at our beautiful planet, the source of all we have ever known, learning more not only about the wider universe, but also about ourselves and our own world. This is THE DEFINITIVE collection of completely restored, ultra-high-resolution photographs from the Apollo 7 through Apollo 11 missions – every photograph taken by the astronauts on these historic missions to land men on the moon and return them safely to Earth.  You cannot find these incredible photographs at this quality and resolution on-line or anywhere else.  In short, this is the best collection of these images available anywhere.