NASA is launching a rocket on Sunday to study a 20,000-year-old supernova

A sounding rocket toting a special imaging and spectroscopy instrument will take a brief trip to space Sunday night to try and capture as much data as it can on a long-admired supernova remnant in the Cygnus constellation. Its target, a massive cloud of dust and gas known as the Cygnus Loop or the Veil Nebula, was created after the explosive death of a star an estimated 20,000 years ago -- and it's still expanding. NASA plans to launch the mission at 11:35 PM ET on Sunday October 29 from the Whi...