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A comment on Target Venus not Mars for first crewed mission to another planet, experts say. Parent comment

Re:Target Venus not Mars for first crewed mission to another... by turndown on Sunday September 25, 2022 @02:41PM (#32974521)
I think space is one of those places where you can appeal to unknown unknowns being a major risk factor and everyone agrees. But I personally think that the better option is to just do all of this on the moon. Making a human-habitable base on the moon, to me, still makes the most sense for preparing for habitation on other worlds.
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Re:Target Venus not Mars for first crewed mission to another... by readams on Sunday September 25, 2022 @03:24PM (#32975011)
Avoiding the need to wait 26 months between launch windows certainly reduces the degree of difficulty. Going from "oh we wish we had X that we didn't think of" to having it is literally almost 3 years on Mars.
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Re:Target Venus not Mars for first crewed mission to another... by xani_ on Sunday September 25, 2022 @05:59PM (#32976803)
It's not to avoid the difficulty, it's to make iteration safer and easier. Good luck seeing what failed if the craft that failed is flying somewhere between earth and mars
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