Getting Home

30 days after Mark left the HAB in order to get to the Ares4 landing site, where a rocket will take him directly towards the rescue ship, Hermes. Mark is driving peacefully when he encounters a sand storm that slows down his progress. Mark manages a way out of the storm, only to flip the rover, and damage it slightly. Everything as just gone south on Mark, but he does not give up, uses all his wit to fix the rover and continue. When he finally makes it to the MAV or the rocket, Mark has to literally, dismantle the MAV so it would be able to make it out of the orbit. When Mark finally takes of in the MAV,  he faints because he is exposed to a substantial amount of G forces. Hermes is too far away to catch Mark, so he makes a hole in his suit so pressure will escape, allowing him to fly like Iron Man. After two years of isolation, Mark finally is reunited with his cremates and he is on his way back to Earth. His rescue has been symbolic to humanity, making them realize that they can accomplish anything when they unite.

Mark about to give up.

“I admit it’s fatally dangerous,” Watney said. “But consider this: I’d get to fly around like Iron Man.” “We’ll keep working on ideas,” Lewis said. “Iron Man, Commander. Iron Man.” (Weir 350).

  

Towards the end of the book we start to realize how Mark’s personality had a great influence in his chances of surviving. Any other person would have easily given up hope. But Mark always tried to stay positive, he always laughed and joked around. In this quote we can see how Mark stays positive and laughs at the situation even though he is in great peril.

“Every human being has a basic instinct: to help each other out. If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a search. If a train crashes, people will line up to give blood. If an earthquake levels a city, people all over the world will send emergency supplies. This is so fundamentally human that it's found in every culture without exception” (Weir 368).

This ending quote can probably reveal the message and theme of the book. We can tell how solidarity influenced Mark’s rescue. Almost everyone on Earth supported and rooted for Mark Watney. Probably billions of dollars where spent in his rescue. This was a symbol of progress, not only it allowed development in science and technology, but it brought union all over the world. Differences where casted aside, and people allover the world united to rescue this one person. Mark Watney could not have made it home without the support and solidarity of everyone on Earth.

Mark is now safe after two years of loneliness. Mark would not have been able to survive if it weren’t for his optimistic personality and his amazing problem solving ability. Mark could have given up any time, he could have stopped trying but he did not. Mark Watney’s rescue has been symbolic to humanity, making them realize that they can accomplish anything when they unite.

The New Plan

After the failure of the Iris probe, launched by NASA, with the purpose of suppling Mark Watney with food, NASA had pretty much given up hope on rescuing Mark form Mars. But suddenly a new idea rose, the Ares3 members who where on their way back to Earth, could receive supplies while passing by Earth and return and rescue Mark from Mars. Mark would rise out of Mar’s atmosphere using the Ares4 mission rocket, or MAV, that was sent in advance of the mission. The only problem is that it is 3500 kilometers away from Mark’s location. Mark has to travel about 90 days in a rover, so he starts to find ways to fit life essential equipment inside the rover, such as the atmospheric regulator and the oxygenator. While modifying the rover, Mark accidentally damages the computer which he used to communicate with NASA, leaving him on his own again. When Mark finally takes of towards the Ares4 rocket, NASA discovers a huge sand storm coming in the direction of Mark’s route, but they cannot do anything to warn him.

“I guess you could call it a "failure", but I prefer the term "learning experience".” (Weir 210).

Dust Storm

The reason that I think that Mark has been able to survive so long is because his personality always allows him to sees the bright side of situations. I Mark wasn’t as optimistic he might already be dead. This way of thinking has allowed him to beat the odds of surviving, solving each problem at a time. Mark Watney never admitted defeat.

“Me: “This is obviously a clog. How about I take it apart and check the internal tubing?” NASA: (after five hours of deliberation) “No. You’ll fuck it up and die.” So I took it apart.”(Weir 232).

THE MAV

This quote probably reflects another reason why Mark has been able to survive without giving up. Mark is a problem solver, even when he had contact with NASA, he did things with confidence, he never doubted himself. Unlike NASA, Mark was able to see the simplest way out of problems, as we can see in this quote. It is because of Mark’s independence that, he has been able to solve all this technical problems that NASA’s most brilliant minds had a hard time with.

I am very unsure of what is going to happen to Mark. Maybe he might get killed in the 100 mile per hour winds of the sand storm.  Not only that but the sand storm will allow less solar power to reacher the rover, making the trip longer by five times. To sum up everything, Mark Watney has literally all odds against him.

Unfortunate Events

After being stranded for three months in Mars, astronaut Mark Watney finally establishes communication with NASA back on Earth. Watney had to travel for two weeks in the Mars Rover in order to get a damaged rover that lost communication with NASA years ago. Thanks to his mechanical engineering skills, Mark fixes the rover’s radio allowing him to communicate with Earth. Once he is in touch with NASA, Mark is guided and told what to do in order for his supplies to last longer. During one of his EVAS (outside explorations), the airlock, a small room which equalized the outside pressure, cracked open, causing the pressure to be released and the HAB to explode. The inside of the HAB is a mess. The potatoes that Mark had grown died because of the change in pressure. Now Mark would not have enough food in order to survive until more supplies get there, unless NASA sends a probe that same month with the food. For the next month NASA engineers work day and night to design a probe that will supply Mark with food. Finally the probe is launched, but a small defect in a bolt causes the probe to fall apart and not make into space, shattering Mark Watney’s last chances of surviving.

Mark's reaction when
the probe failed.

“Every time the astronaut used the airlock, the strain on AL102 relaxed, then tightened anew. Pulling, stressing, stretching, weakening…”(Weir 154).

   

By reading this quote we can identify some of the author’s tool such as foreshadowing. We can clearly infer that something is about to go wrong in the airlock. By using words such as “weakening” and “stressing,” the author is trying to tell us that the airlock is probably going to break, complicating things for Mark.

“When I got back to the HAB and took of the EVA suit, I sat down in the dirt and cried. Bawled like a little kid for several minutes. I finally settled down to a mild sniffling and then felt a deep calm.” (Weir 115).

"I sat down on
 the dirt and cried."

This quote can show and prove to us just how lonely and desperate Mark Watney was. This is what Mark did after he achieved to communicate with NASA. Just imagine how lonely and depressed you have to be to react this way just because you finally get to talk to someone. I pity Mark for having to endure such hard times alone, with no help or support what so ever.

After reading this, we can pretty much say that Mark Watney has a better chances of being rescued by extraterrestrials than by NASA. But knowing how resourceful and ingenious Mark Watney is, he may have a chance after all. I believe that Mark will do something to survive, whether it involves growing more potatoes or eating off his arm.