The box-office failure of last year’s Neil Armstrong biopic “First Man” would lead you to believe audiences are over the moon. Excuse me: done with the moon.

But there’s a new documentary, “Apollo 11,” that should be seen by anyone who’s ever owned a telescope or pretended a stock pot was an astronaut’s helmet. It tells the story of the 1969 moon landing using spectacularly restored old footage, much of which has never been seen before. The picture is, at times, so crisp and clear — strands of hair, sandwich wrappers on the Mission Control desk — that it could have been shot last week.

Drawn from a variety of sources, the footage has been shrewdly strung together by director Todd Douglas Miller to create a remarkably full-feeling story of the historic mission, from boarding the spacecraft to a “Welcome Home” parade down Chicago’s Michigan Avenue.

Some astounding shots come from cameras attached to the lunar vehicle, giving whole new vantages of iconic events, while other previously unscreened moments were filmed by professional cameramen.

A few of those scenes — particularly in Houston’s Mission Control and on the launch pad — are filmed with surprising artistry and creativity. They look cinematic, suggesting that the camera operators understood that they were doing more than documenting the day’s news: They were securing their place in the cultural firmament.

“First Man” naysayers, I suspect, will greatly prefer a film that doesn’t delve into the spotty personal lives of Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. There are glimpses of humor, particularly from Aldrin, and a scene scored to singer-songwriter John Stewart’s 1969 song “Mother Country” is moving and inspired.

But “Apollo 11” is foremost a tale of technology and humanity. It’s about a country that needed a figurative lift, and got it with a literal one.