Petaluma High School students lose experiments in SpaceX rocket failure

LOS ANGELES — Students from three California schools, including Petaluma High School in Petaluma, have lost their science experiments after a SpaceX rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station disintegrated.

The unmanned rocket broke apart shortly after liftoff Sunday from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The projects were from eighth-graders at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, and seniors at Petaluma High School and Damien High School in La Verne.

The experiments were part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.

Program director Jeff Goldstein says another round of experiments won't be launched until 2016.

The cause of the rocket failure is under investigation.