text: The difference in speed means that sometimes we are closer to mars and other times to venus. Because Venus is something right around the corner in the space terms human have sent numerous space craft to land on the cloud-draped world. No space craft survived the landing for more than hours. Beyond high pressure and heat, venusian geology and weather present earthquakes, amd frequent lightning strikes to probes seeking to land on it's surface. Venus has the hotest surface temperature of any planet in our solar system, even though mercury is closer to our sun.