Venus And Mars

The Inspiration Mars Foundation, led by Dennis Tito, is proposing a manned mission that would fly by both Venus and Mars before returning home-- a remarkable journey.  To take advantage of the necessary planetary alignment, the mission would launch in 2021.

To fly the mission, however, the Foundation needs NASA's help.  Specifically, it wants to use the heavy lift launcher NASA is developing, as well as NASA's Orion capsule.  Both the rocket and Orion, of course, are intended to support deep space manned missions.

Congress might have an interesting decision to make shortly.  Given its performance over recent years, however, Congress will likely punt on this one.