A crewed mission to Venus before Mars might just be the best way to ensure success when astronauts finally make a run at the Red Planet. In fact, a crewed orbital mission to Venus would arguably make a great dress rehearsal for a much longer and more ambitious human Mars mission. “Launch opportunities for a direct to Venus mission versus a direct-to-Mars mission are more, with Venus mission windows occurring approximately every 1.5 years and Mars mission windows every two years,” Jeff Matthews, Director of Venture Strategy & Research at The Space Frontier Foundation, told me. * A 2023 crewed orbital mission to Venus using Orion and the same SLS architecture. A crewed mission to Venus, says Matthews, could easily bridge the gap between a lunar mission and a mission to one of Mars’ moons.

Source: Forbes April 07, 2017 03:33 UTC