Remastered photos obtained by USA TODAY show new images of the Apollo 15 mission at its 50th anniversary.
The photos were enhanced by the author of “Apollo Remastered,” Andy Saunders. They show astronauts driving the Lunar Roving Vehicle, the first car on the moon and collecting lunar material. The photos also show views of the moon’s surface and more.
Astronauts David R. Scott, James B. Irwin and Alfred M. Worden all entered lunar orbit during the Apollo 15 mission on July 29, 1971.
Scott and Irwin touched down on the moon, conducting four spacewalks over a total of 19 hours. They also collected 170 pounds of rock and soil samples, as Worden conducted observations and photography from orbit, according to NASA.
Saunders, who has been remastering photos from Apollo missions for nearly 10 years and has gone through 35,000 images, told USA TODAY there are “incredible” photographs from the missions. However, many haven’t been seen “because the quality wasn’t there.”
“But with digital enhancement, suddenly now we can see things that we couldn’t see before, and they’re amazing images,” he said.
“The events have just become more incredible as time goes,” he added. “To achieve this today would be incredible, but to do it 50 years ago is just wow.”
Listen to this:NASA shared an audio rendition of imagery taken by the Hubble Space Telescope
That’s not a smudge on your screen:It’s an image of the moon casting a shadow on Earth.
Check out these remastered images from the Apollo 15 mission:
