

NASA Wanted Astronauts to View Venus Up-Close - daegloe
http://news.discovery.com/space/viewing-venus-up-close-120528.html

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vbtemp
Cheesy linkbait.

Title: "NASA Wanted Astronaughts to View Venus Close Up"

Body: "Alas, it was a “thought mission,” a plan designed to showcase the
durability and flexibility of Apollo hardware. The report was prepared by
Bellcom, a division of AT&T ..."

C'mon.

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robryan
This could still be a decent idea, a good way to test long term spaceflight
outside of low earth orbit without the additional burden of executing a
landing and getting them back off the surface for a Mars mission.

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InclinedPlane
Erm, not exactly. The problem with interplanetary manned missions is radiation
from solar flares. The closer you get to the Sun the worse off the problem
gets. A Venus mission with the Apollo hardware would have almost certainly
killed the crew due to radiation exposure. A better protected spacecraft is
possible but that requires a fairly significant amount of mass.

