Astronauts on NASA's Apollo missions to the moon captured astounding movies of the lunar surface, but recent enhancements with artificial intelligence (AI) have really made the films out of this world. In remastered movies shared online by by DutchSteamMachine, a YouTube channel run by a film restoration specialist in the Netherlands, details from lunar scenes are astonishingly crisp and vivid; from mission commander Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon in 1969 to bumpy lunar rover drives during Apollo 15 and 16 in 1971 and 1972, respectively. The film restorer behind DutchSteamMachine, who also goes by "Niels," used AI to stabilize shaky footage and generate new frames in NASA moon landing films; increasing the frame rate (the number of frames that play per second) smoothed the motion and made it look more like movement in high-definition (HD) video. Related: Can machines be creative? The Apollo program launched 11 lunar spaceflight missions between 1968 and 1972; of those, four missions tested equipment and six landed on the moon, allowing 12 men to walk, drive and/or leap over the dusty, cratered lunar surface, according to NASA.

As exciting and thrilling as it is to watch all the historic footage from the Apollo moon landings, you have to admit, the quality is sometimes not all that great. Even though NASA has worked on restoring and enhancing some of the most popular Apollo footage, some of it is still grainy or blurry. But now, new developments in artificial intelligence have come to the rescue, providing viewers a nearly brand-new experience in watching historic Apollo video. A photo and film restoration specialist who goes by the name of DutchSteamMachine has worked some AI magic to enhance original Apollo film, creating strikingly clear and vivid video clips and images. "I really wanted to provide an experience on this old footage that has not been seen before," he told Universe Today.