The long Venus drought ends now, this week on Planetary Radio.

Welcome.

I'm at Kaplan of the Planetary Society, with more of the human adventure across our solar

system and beyond.

On June 2nd, Jim Garvin and Susan McCart received what had to be among the most welcome phone

calls ever.

The principal investigators of the Da Vinci and Veritas missions were greeted by NASA

Science Mission Directorate Associate Administrator Thomas Sirbuchen with this simple message.

You're going to Venus.

Which means, of course, that we are all going back to Venus.

And the European Space Agency made it a hat trick one week later, with word that it will

send a spacecraft called Envision to our sister world.

We are moments away from congratulating Jim and Sue and hearing about their complimentary

missions.

Bruce Betts will follow up with a Venusian Space Trivia contest when he joins me for What's

Up.

It's not in the July 9 edition of the downlink, but you know I have to salute Virgin Galactic.

Spaceship 2 Unity, the same rocket plane I stuck my head into a few years ago on this show,

took its two pilots and four passengers on the ride of their lives July 11th.

It has been a long hard climb, but it looks like the era of suborbital human space flight

for all has finally arrived.

I have to qualify for all, of course, since a ticket will set you back hundreds of thousands

...