“Gemini and Mercury Remastered” by Andy Saunders

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Rating: 5/5 Stars.

A fascinating book on the Mercury and Gemini projects, filled with wonderful photographs taken of the astronauts and (mostly) by the astronauts. The photographs are digital scans of the original photos, cleaned up, enhanced and, in some cases, stacked (combined) together to bring out incredible details in the images.

The Mercury and Gemini flights are listed in chronological order in the book. Each flight includes details on the mission, the tasks performed by the astronauts during the mission, and excerpts of the conversations between mission control and the astronauts.

The Mercury missions were one-man missions to show that astronauts could work in space and to do testing on systems that would be used in the later Apollo missions. Photography by the astronauts were an afterthought (requested by the astronauts) and many of the images in this section are stacked images from the on-board cameras focused on the astronaut to record them in space. But the photos the astronauts took of the earth from space would show some of the possibilities of space photography.

The Gemini mission were two-man missions that would test some of the actions required by the Apollo missions, including doing space-walks, space rendezvous and docking in space. The astronauts were also provided much better cameras to take photographic records of these actions. Some of these shots would become iconic, like the first American Space Walk, which made NASA realise that space photography could be used to excite the public and get public support for the space missions. The astronauts also took photos of space and the earth, showing the value of being able to capture images of large geographical areas, especially areas that had not yet being visited on the ground.

After covering the missions, the author then looks at the photographic equipment used by the astronauts. The cameras were standard commercial cameras, but modified for use in space. These changes include stripping out materials that are no space-safe, and modifying the equipment so that astronauts wearing bulky suits could operate them or to change the lenses when required.

The next section looks at the history of the film used in the missions, how they were stored and then retrieved to be scanned for the book. Physical and digital touch-ups to remove dirt and markings were done, followed by the digital enhancements done to bring out details in the images. In some cases, images (sometimes hundreds of them) were digitally stacked to increase the resolution of the final image. The author also consulted various experts and the astronauts themselves to ensure that the final images were as ‘true to life’ as possible.

The final result is a book that does justice to the Mercury and Gemini missions, and showcases some of the incredible images and views that the astronauts had at the start of the manned missions into space.

Book read from 2026/05/22 to 2026/06/02.