The Goldilocks Zone

Just over fifty kilometers up in the atmosphere of Venus the pressure and the temperature are like the surface of Earth. This is the only place in the Solar System apart from Earth where humans could survive without a spacesuit although they would need an oxygen mask as Venus's atmosphere is predominantly Carbon Dioxide. On Venus breathable air is a lifting gas so humans could live high in the atmosphere of Venus inside the envelope of balloons or airships which could form the basis of a self sustaining base. Venus's atmosphere could provide the materials to make plastics, fuel, and all the other things necessary for life and space exploration so the Venus Society believes that Venus should be one of the first targets for human space exploration beyond the Earth and that in the future it might support self sustaining settlements. Terraforming Venus is a dream beyond present and foreseeable technologies in the next generation but we could live on Venus now high in the atmosphere and to my mind that's one of the most exciting prospects in space exploration today after a human landing on Mars.