Some have said that the surface of Venus today is safe for human
habitation. These same individuals say the moon is not. We don't
have to guess about the surface condition of either.

Here's a picture from the surface of Venus

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ima...nera13_big.gif

that was sent by the Soviet Venera 13 space probe sitting on the
surface of Venus after parachuting there on 1 March 1982. The
vehicle, even though safeguarded from conditions in its own safe-like
enclosure survived only half an hour in the blazing 482 C (900 F)
temperature - about twice as hot as your oven at home. The air
pressure was 92 bar - 92 times sea level pressure on Earth. Chemical
analysis of the droplets in the clouds surrounding the lander indicate
they wree pure sulfuric acid.

Now if any of you have ever left a chicken or a steak under a broiler
at 500 F for too long, or if any of you have ever cooked a whole
turkey in minutes in a pressure cooker (which operates at 2 bar) - or
if any of you have ever dropped anything organic in sulfuric acid -
you may have some inkling of just how BAD a day you would have if you
found yourself on the surface of Venus!

Twice as hot as the broiler gets, 40x more pressure than a pressure
cooker, and clouds of liquid sulfuric acid.. hmm..

Any organic material, would burst into a weird sort of flame, and
dissolve away in seconds leaving the bones behind which might last
nearly 20 minutes or so before dissolving altogether.

This is NOT conducive to life.

As far as the moon is concerned.

We've been there.. Here's a series of films shot from Apollo 15's
Falcon lander.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1xzPGyt4F4

Here's a few more images from the lunar surface

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6c60m3JbKw&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOLa6BOFu3A&NR=1

And if you want to see more! for only $20 you can get the DVD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjtJ3...eature=related

Euugene Cernan said once that naysayers can spin all sorts of crazy
theories they want about Apollo,to take away the thrill, and the glory
of those missions to the American people, but there's one thing
they'll never do, and that's take those footprints I made on Montes
Taurus the Winter of 1972 away from me!.

Now it is true that there is more radiation on the moon than on Earth,
but the amounts are tolerable if stay times are short - less than 90
days. For those who wish to stay longer than a year on the moon, you
need to get underground or do something different. This is an issue
for long-term habitation. Not for short term exploration or tourism
or even industry if you rotate work crews or work tele-robotically
from shielded bunkers

It is an issue that will be resolved in my estimation.