A 1973 Venus Flyby: NASA's 396-Day Three-Astronaut Interplanetary Dream

NASA once explored a bold 1973 plan to send three astronauts on a 396-day Venus flyby using modified Apollo hardware and a Saturn V, with a wet-workshop habitat in the S-IVB and gravity assist to return to Earth while deploying atmospheric probes; the mission would have tested year-long life support and deep-space operations, but budget and political priorities shifted, ending the proposal and shaping Skylab as the lasting offshoot of Apollo-era spaceflight.