Apollo 11 Mission Footage

On July 16, 1969, when Apollo 11 launches into space for its historic mission, millions of people will watch it unfold on television screens worldwide and document it via various forms of filming.

The onboard lunar camera recorded in an unconventional format that required conversion for broadcast TV broadcast. Image quality varied depending on which broadcast station received them.

Apollo 1

After the success of Mercury and Gemini, NASA set its sights on an even loftier goal: sending a human being to the Moon. Apollo 1 was scheduled as its inaugural manned mission – yet before even launch, its spacecraft caught fire, leading to the deaths of astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Alan Shepard.

Investigators dubbed this event ‘The Fire,’ as it would threaten America’s lunar ambitions. It likely began in a storage compartment of the Command Module pressurized to 16.7 pounds per square inch — significantly higher than Earth’s atmosphere at that time.

Miller edits his footage into an almost seamless whole, without much visual analysis or emphasis in terms of slow motion, frame-by-frame advance, digital zooming in or isolating portions of an image – which removes its immediacy and drama from the film.

Apollo 2

The Apollo Program was an ambitious spaceflight initiative which pioneered human landing on the Moon from 1961-1972, following Mercury and Gemini projects, using Saturn rockets as launch vehicles.

From its inception, Apollo 1 experienced many setbacks before ultimately meeting its goal of landing astronauts on the Moon by the end of 1967. One major setback occurred during a pre-launch test when fire consumed its unmanned spacecraft during pre-launch testing; all six astronauts died as a result.

Walter Cronkite broadcast the launch from a studio about four miles from the pad. As noise and vibrations approached an unprecedented decibel level, nearly shattering windows in his studio. DutchSteamMachine offers restored versions online which create breathtaking recreations of historic scenes enhanced using artificial intelligence technology.

Apollo 3

Some of the movie’s most striking images depict hundreds of scientists gathered in Mission Control, their rows of long tables filled with monitors and panels of pushbuttons. But Miller fails to provide any insight into what these buttons and switches actually do or what sort of structure of consultation and command is in place among these groups of specialists.

DutchSteamMachine, a YouTube channel that specializes in film restoration, recently uploaded an amazing remastered video from archival footage featuring astronauts’ first steps on the moon to their thrilling lunar rover drives – making their voyage truly breathtaking to behold! It was truly amazing to witness.

NASA completed their step-by-step lunar landing process with Apollo 11’s landing of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon in 1969, when this footage of their descent from Lunar Module was recently purchased at auction and serves as one of the earliest, sharpest, and most accurate surviving recordings of that historic event.

Apollo 4

On November 9, 1967, NASA’s Saturn V rocket reached orbit. This mission served as an “all up” test of both rocket and spacecraft components; engineers could observe how each component performed instead of conducting several individual tests separately. Observers at five kilometers away at LC-39A witnessed its powerful liftoff which rocked them to their seats as debris flew towards Walter Cronkite while being broadcast live over TV stations such as CBS.

As soon as Apollo 4 reached apogee, its onboard camera snapped 715 high-quality color images of Earth. Two hours and 46 minutes after launch, its propulsion system fired again for four minutes and 40 seconds to accelerate towards returning from the Moon.

As the command module and lunar module approached one another, an onboard camera captured images of their re-docking procedure in vivid detail – images which were sent back to Earth and shown on TV screens across the world.

Apollo 5

American’s fifth and final Apollo program mission, this flight test aimed to land the Lunar Module successfully. As well as testing its landing mechanism and both propulsion engines – one for descenting to land and another for returning to orbit.

The Lunar Module included an iconic television camera which transmitted black-and-white TV pictures back to Earth that would later be broadcast worldwide – this marked a major technological advance and one of the first times footage from space reached us back on Earth.

Miller’s film features historic footage as well as comment from astronauts about problems they experienced during their mission and national news footage and commentary post-mission, in addition to national news footage and commentary following its completion. Unfortunately, however, this approach results in generic interpretation of its source material; an AI restoration specialist known as DutchSteamMachine has used AI enhancement techniques on Apollo footage with impressive results.

Apollo 6

Apollo 6 may not get as much attention as Apollo 11, but it is nonetheless an integral part of history. This uncrewed mission helped identify minor oscillations in Saturn V’s second stage that weren’t mission-critical but eventually led to improved designs and increased safety. Furthermore, the Maurer DAC cameras on board provided invaluable data relating to Moon terrain.

Most of us are familiar with breathtaking films depicting launch vehicles soaring and separating midflight, yet few know this footage is exclusive footage captured by Apollo 6. Packed with innovative instrumentation and film technology, Apollo 6 recorded sequences that became iconic (though sometimes mislabeled in documentaries as being from Apollo 11).

Apollo 7

Todd Miller and his team discovered an incredible archive of 70mm film reels at NASA archives while creating their short film ‘The Last Steps. Rather than taking advantage of this exclusive material and giving it its due, largely using these clips as sketches to represent events depicted.

Apollo 7, comprising Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham launched on 11 October 1968 to test out their command and service module that would eventually carry astronauts to the Moon. Although their launch proved that this new equipment could safely perform in space, Schirra developed a cold while onboard and Eisele began suffering the discomforts associated with space travel; furthermore their communications system began failing and eventually prevented them from communicating with Mission Control; their frustrations could be seen by millions viewing on TV.

Apollo 8

Apollo 8, launched on December 1968, was the inaugural manned mission to reach and orbit the moon. Led by Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders, its crew witnessed first-hand Earthrise by witnessing its far side for themselves.

Miller employs the same technique used in The Last Steps – severe trimming of images to form an integrated whole. He also applies an unassuming, generic musical score as a cushion between images.

One outstanding sequence in Spaceship Earth is when Eagle and Columbia capsules reunite after they separate during reentry. We hear the banging sound of thrusters being fired off to correct for splashdown and jettison of SM; an amazing display of footage being enhanced to reveal something hidden, extraordinary or incredible.

Apollo 9

NASA Apollo was an ongoing program, from 1966-1972, during which 24 astronauts completed missions that tested or prepared them for lunar spaceflight. Six astronauts made it all the way to lunar surface landing sites allowing 12 men to walk and drive across its dusty terrain.

DutchSteamMachine, a film restoration specialist in the Netherlands, shared online remastered movies featuring historic moments that capture them beautifully; yet Miller, with a background in documentary filmmaking, could not add his personal artistic vision to it.

James McDivitt, David Scott and Russell Schweickart performed an Earth orbit dress rehearsal of their lunar landing mission Apollo 9, from March 3-13 1969. As Neil Armstrong eased himself onto the porch of his lunar lander he pulled open a storage assembly and deployed a black-and-white Westinghouse TV camera for use during mission control communications and viewing between astronauts on board the craft. It allowed astronauts to see each other more easily while also communicating more directly with mission control during their voyages to space.