1991 VG

Some folks couldn't read my earlier post. Here it is again.

rmenich@...
06/11/2002 08:23 AM

From a recent space.com article:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/nss_asteroid_020606.html

"

One prime piece of unreal estate for human exploration, Durda said, is
asteroid 1991 VG. It passed about 1.2 lunar distances of Earth in December
of 1991. The orbit of this tiny world is very Earth-like.

Outbound and return trek times involving asteroid 1991 VG would each be in
the neighborhood of 15 days. Once at the body, a crew could study the
space rock for 30 days. The entire mission would take about two months,
"well within our experience base when you consider the stay times that we
become accustomed to for International Space Station (ISS) expeditions,"
Durda said.

"It turns out that during the entire mission, the crew would never venture
farther from Earth than about 4.5 lunar distances. The Earth would never
appear smaller in the sky than the full Moon appears to us from here on
Earth! That's not such a daunting trip at all," Durda remarked.
"