Colonizing Planets (part 3)

Yet despite all the buzz about a colony on Mars, NASA is also very seriously considering a colony on, believe it or not, Venus! Before you scoff and declare that impossible, don't worry, NASA has thought this one through a bit. There are insanely harsh surface conditions on our neighboring planet--it's almost 860 degrees Fahrenheit on the surface with over 92 times Earth's sea level pressure, with an unbreathable atmosphere of CO2 and nitrogen, not to mention the corrosive clouds of sulfuric acid! NASA isn't actually considering a colony on the planet of Venus—that would be ludicrous—but instead, they are talking about a colony above the planet, floating above the clouds! The gravity above cloud level is only slightly lower than Earth's, and the atmospheric pressure is similar. Plus, the aerospace provides adequate protection against solar radiation. NASA has proposed designing floating airships that could later become more permanent floating cities. Venus has even been considered as a pre-Mars mission, to be used as “practice” for sustaining a colony beyond Earth. Venus is, after all, a little closer than Mars, 16.6 million kilometers closer, in fact! I'm still not sure 38 million kilometers should be considered “close to home,” however. If we need to practice colonization, how about we try the moon first, guys?