Venus was born in Paris as Lily Lumière. Her parents were killed only a few months later in the rioting and civil disorder that swept across France in the aftermath of the European Atomic War of 2028-34. A medical team in one of the survival shelters where her parents had been living found her – but there were no records of her birth and no one even knew her name. With no way of tracing living relatives in the social climate at the time she was placed in an orphanage and eventually adopted by the American Doctor Victor Crabtree and his French wife who named her Venus.

Doctor Crabtree was one of an international team of doctors who had volunteered to help survivors in Europe and administer the newly developed anti-radiation drugs which greatly reduced the number of casualties.

The United Nations began to restore order by 2036 and the Crabtree family finally settled down in Southern France after life had returned to normal. Venus was encouraged to attend medical school and in 2056 graduated from the University of the Universe with doctorates in biology and space medicine. She joined the medical wing of the World Space Patrol and was posted to Space City where she was immediately responsible for devising medical tests to determine the pressures astronauts were under flying the newly commissioned XL ships further and faster than ever before. She joined as Doctor Venus having dropped her surname to emphasise her unknown lineage – she had never liked the name Crabtree anyway.

In 2057 Venus was chosen by Colonel Steve Zodiac to be Fireball XL5's Doctor of Space Medicine and given the rank surgeon lieutenant. She earned her Diploma in Space Psychology in 2063 and during her time aboard XL5 has become a capable co-pilot and assistant navigator too.