The US didn't win the space race btw.
I've been on a kick reading about old school space exploration and was surprised to find this out. The picture looks comparable to the Mars rover, and had to travel over double the distance to get there.
Knowing what we know now, there could absolutely be new life on places like this, but we'll never know because where's the capital
source!?: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missions_to_Venus
History of the Venus Landers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera
The Soviets (correctly) considered Venus the best candidate for a first extraterrestrial colony: the surface is very hot but at an altitude of 53 km the temperature is 20°C and the pressure is the same as in high cities of Earth like La Paz and Lhasa. The atmosphere up there is 99% carbon dioxide, which can be used to grow plants to produce food and oxygen and is clear to sunlight, and is denser than breathable air. There are also very fast winds at that altitude that circle the planet every 100 hours.
So you can imagine a floating habitat suspended by its own atmosphere, with a teflon greenhouse for food, solar and nuclear power for electricity, pushed by the wind into a 100-hour day/night cycle. Unlike in Mars, a leak in the habitat would not result in explosive decompression but a slow diffusion of carbon dioxide. Eventually a way to mine the surface for minerals could be developed.
Edit: Like @spectre said, I forgot about the gravity! Another huge problem for space colonies (like temperature, pressure and cosmic ray protection) already solved for us.
90% of earth gravity too! Everything is a bit lighter which makes the engineering a bit easier, but it's not too much lighter where it gets in the way
you truly belong with us among the clouds
:Care-Comrade:
but how would you get to an altitude of 53 km?
Well, you start at an altitude of 66 million km, The trick is how to never go below 53. :P
Since the atmosphere there is almost entirely carbon dioxide, and CO₂ is heavier than nitrogen and oxygen, you just need to carry enough nitrogen and oxygen that you'd float like a zeppelin floats on Earth.
Balloons I would guess.
If the atmosphere is more dense then balloons would be even more buoyant.