CARL AZUZ: A bomb cyclone just dropped on the US heartland.

What that is and what it does is our first topic

this Thursday on "CNN 10".

I'm Carl Azuz.

Thank you for watching.

In the capital of Colorado, the Mile High City of Denver,

Tuesday's high temperature was nearly 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

24 hours later, it was freezing and snowing.

This is the result of bombogenesis, what's

also called a bomb cyclone.

It happens when there's a rapid drop in atmospheric pressure

that causes a storm to become very intense, very quickly.

How intense?

Central and northern US states that lie in the Rocky Mountains

and east of them were bracing for winds that

could reach 70 miles per hour.

That's nearly the speed of a category one hurricane.

Blizzard and winter storm warnings

were in effect for parts of Colorado, Nebraska,

South Dakota, and Wyoming.

Heavy snow was likely.

The National Weather Service in Boulder, Colorado

predicted whiteout conditions when there's no visibility,

and power outages too.

It told the people in the region to cancel

any travel plans Wednesday afternoon and evening.

Some folks didn't have a choice.

More than 1,000 flights were canceled yesterday, mostly at

Denver International Airport.

Denver Public Schools, like several other districts

in Colorado, were closed.

Forecasters expected the storm to move northeast

from the Colorado Rocky Mountains,

with the snow tapering off by Thursday afternoon.

But they're also on the lookout for strong winds

and possible flooding in southern states east

of the Rockies, where thunderstorms were likely.

Next today, Boeing passenger planes, models 737 Max 8 and 9

have been grounded in the US and Canada.

The two nations announced their decision yesterday afternoon.

At that point, they'd been the only two

countries with a substantial number

of these planes still flying.

US President Donald Trump said new information

about the Ethiopian airlines crash led to the Federal

Aviation Administration's order to temporarily

ground 737 Max 8s and 9s.

We covered the plane and the accident and yesterday's show.

You can find that at CNN10.com.

The Boeing Company says it still has full confidence

in its airplane safety, but that out of an abundance of caution,

it supports the decision by the US government.

- 10 second trivia.

Which of these fast food restaurant chains

was founded first?

Burger King, Chick fil-A, McDonald's, or Wendy's?

The first Chick fil-A chicken sandwich was served

at The Dwarf Grill in 1946.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

CARL AZUZ: July 20th, 2019 will mark exactly 50 years

since astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took mankind's

first steps on the moon.

The main mission of Apollo 11 was

to get humans safely to the moon,

and then get them safely home.

But Armstrong, Aldrin, and Michael

Collins, the command module pilot,

also brought back samples.

The Smithsonian Institution says they

were the first ever retrieved from another planetary body.

The subsequent missions of Apollo 15, 16,

and 17 brought home more.

Some have been sitting untouched in storage for decades.

And this week, NASA announced they'd

be studied for the first time.

Nine teams will receive $8 million for their research.

NASA hopes to gain new understanding

about the moon from it and prepare

for more deep space missions.

Meantime, Americans have the opportunity

to see the moon in a new light from newly restored footage.

- It's one small step for man.

One giant leap for mankind.

- It was a moment seen by millions.

Man's first steps on the moon.

The Apollo 11 mission remains one of humanity's greatest

achievements.

And yet, there is much we never heard, never

saw, and never knew until now.

- Countdown for a Apollo 11 now five minutes,

52 seconds and counting.

- 50 years after the historic launch,

a new documentary tells the mission's story

with new accuracy, pieced together with archival film

and recordings unearthed by the filmmakers.

TODD DOUGLAS MILLER: When we started the project,

we kind of cast a big net to try to get

all the available film footage.

What really-- the amazing part was, several months and when

this discovery of the collection of the 65 millimeter,

so was all large format.

And, you know, needless to say, our jaws were on the ground

when we saw the first images off the film scanner.

- Among the discovery were thousands of hours of footage

that only existed on old reels.

Much of it uncatalogued, lacking labels or transcriptions.

TODD DOUGLAS MILLER: NASA, 50 years ago,

had shot this, developed it, sent it out

to the different centers, and then ultimately, it

ended up at the National Archives

in College Park outside of DC.

And sitting in cold storage all these years.

- Working with the team, the film makers sifted through,

restored, and digitized troves of material.

TODD DOUGLAS MILLER: Once we spent the time researching all

of that and then actually made an entire timeline that

was nine days long of the mission,

so there really is a nine day version of this film.

We quickly realized that we had, you know, something special,

and that we could do it all with archival materials

and not rely on current talking heads or other kind of movie

trickery to tell the story.

TOM PETERSEN: I think that the all

archival approach really adds to the immediacy of everything.

And that was really what we set out to do, was just, you make,

you feel as if you were actually there.

- Without narration, recreation, or commentary,

the film uses only original footage to condense the nine

day mission into 90 minutes.

It begins with launch preparations

and ends with the astronauts' return

to Earth, layering new perspectives of all those

involved in the undertaking.

- I'd like to know what you feel as

far as the responsibilities of representing

mankind on this trip.

- That's relatively difficult to answer.

It's a job that we collectively said it was possible

and we could do.

And, of course, the nation itself is backing us.

- [INAUDIBLE], CNN.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

CARL AZUZ: We're not coming back down to Earth just yet.

Since it's Throwback Thursday, we're looking back on NASA's

Apollo 14 mission to the moon.

Well, astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar

Mitchell were there in 1971.

They explored the moon's surface,

set up experiments, and climbed to the edge of a crater.

But there's something Alan Shepard did

afterward that golfers loved.

Though the ball he hit with his six iron did not actually

travel for more than a mile.

ALAN SHEPARD: --six iron on the bottom of it.

In my left hand I have a little white pellet

that's familiar to millions and millions of Americans.

I'll drop it down.

Unfortunately, the suit is so stiff I can't

do this with two hands, but I'm gonna

try an old sand trap shot here.

EDGAR MITCHELL: Your got more dirt than ball that time.

ALAN SHEPARD: Got more dirt than ball.

Here we go again.

- That looked like a slice to me, Al.

ALAN SHEPARD: Here we go.

Straight as a die.

One more.

Miles and miles and miles.

CARL AZUZ: Glad we were able to wedge that in.

It's definitely not par for the course of a moon mission,

but it surely irons out the question of whether you

can hit the links by moonlight.

It's a slice of levity where there's less gravity,

and even if there's no birdie to be seen,

it's not like you're going to get a Mulligan.

I'm Carl Azuz, teeing off with CNN.