WASHINGTON -- The obvious star of the event was legendary astronaut and Ohio's former U.S. senator, John Glenn.

"It's a pleasure to be here and to celebrate NASA's birthday," said Glenn. "I can't believe it's been 50 years."

Fifty years ago, NASA began its journey into space. Now never-before-seen footage from Gemini, Mercury and Apollo missions is being unveiled. It's part of a project between NASA and Discovery Channel to restore more than 150 hours of old film and convert it to high definition.

"This was no easy task," said Discovery Communications Founder and Chairman John Hendricks. "The Apollo footage was filmed on specially adapted light-weight film that 40 years later had literally curled at the edges. After the film was taken from the freezer, it had to be left to warm over two days before it could be transferred by a special machine that would read the curled edges."

Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C., Hendricks joined Glenn, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and U.S. senators at the Capitol to watch three of the clips. One shows Ed White making the first space walk in 1965.

"A lot of deja vu watching these things," Glenn said. "Ed White was a real close personal friend of mine - one of the finest men I ever knew in my whole life and I say that without reservation. And his loss - well any loss of life is bad. But that brings back a lot of memories, of course."

Two years after the footage was taken, Ed White, along with two other astronauts, died in a fire on Apollo 1 during a training exercise at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Many of the clips, including White's space walk, will be part of a Discovery Channel series called, "When We Left Earth," scheduled to air June 8, 15 and 22 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT).