Some veterans of the Apollo program are unhappy for other reasons.

Jim Lovell flew on Apollo Thirteen. It was launched on April eleventh, nineteen seventy. But an explosion in space cost him the chance to reach the moon -- and nearly cost the crew their lives. Jim Lovell talked about the current situation at NASA during an event to mark the fortieth anniversary of Apollo Thirteen.

JIM LOVELL: "They’re looking at putting money into various programs at NASA but not having any goals. Not having anything that they’re striving for. Not going back to the moon or trying to go to Mars, or anything else."

STEVE EMBER: To answer such concerns, President Obama went to the Kennedy Space Center. On April fifteenth he gave a speech in which he discussed his goals for space travel.

He defended his decision to end the Constellation program that NASA began under former President George W. Bush. The immediate goal of the program was to return Americans to the moon by twenty twenty. The aim was to recreate the success of the Apollo program, mainly based on existing technologies.

But President Obama said the Constellation program was over budget and behind schedule, and it lacked in new thinking.

BARACK OBAMA: "The point is, that what we are looking for is not just to continue on the same path, we want to leap into the future. We want major breakthroughs, a transformative agenda for NASA."