Officials with Gadsden State Community College have confirmed that the water experiment which had been scheduled to go aboard the International Space Station – was on board the unmanned rocket that exploded Tuesday evening just seconds after lift-off.

That experiment was designed to study how elements in water interact in zero gravity, and to learn more about how drinking water may be affected during long-duration space flights

During fall of 2012, Gadsden State was chosen to develop that experiment in collaboration with the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California.

There was approximately 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments on the rocket destined for the Space Station.

The rocket exploded six seconds after lift-off from a NASA facility in Virginia.

NASA has confirmed that there were no personnel in the area at the time – and fortunately no one was injured.

(ABC3340/www.abc3340.com)