How long would it take to get to Venus?
4.8 yearsby jet, without stopping
Venus comes within 38 million km of Earth at closest approach. In a straight line at airliner speed that's 4.8 years of continuous flight. The fastest spacecraft ever launched would need 27 days.
▶ See how far Venus really is
The honest timetable
Family car (100 km/h)
44 years
Jet airliner (900 km/h)
4.8 years
New Horizons — fastest launch ever (58,500 km/h)
27 days
Light (299,792 km/s)
2.1 minutes
Those are straight-line times at the moment of closest approach — the absolute best case. Real spacecraft can't fly straight there: they follow long curved transfer orbits, sling around planets for free speed, and have to slow down at the other end. Mariner 2, the first successful interplanetary mission, reached Venus in about 3½ months in 1962.
Surface pressure is ~92× Earth’s — like standing 900 m underwater — and it’s hot enough to melt lead. Venus also spins backwards.
See the gap for yourself: open Venus in the interactive view, switch to 1:1 scale, and try to find Earth from there.
Keep going
✓ Facts verified July 2026
Every figure on this page is a real, rounded value checked against primary sources. Found something out of date? See how we keep it accurate.