However, the blood from his wound sealed the rupture in his suit, saving his life. He was impaled by the communications dish antenna, which also destroyed his biomonitor. Unbeknownst to them, Watney is alive and in fairly good condition. Because Watney’s biomonitor readings showed no signs of life, they concluded he was dead and began their return trip to Earth. Eventually, the winds were too high and the crew’s lives were at risk, so she returned, and they launched back to the Hermes. The rest of the crew waited at the MAV as Commander Lewis searched the area for Watney. Melissa Lewis, the crew commander, made the difficult decision to abort the mission and return to their ship, the Hermes, before the storm could sabotage them-but as the crew traversed the storm, Watney was hit by flying wreckage and disappeared into the storm.

The novel opens with Watney’s mission log after he is stranded, and he explains what went wrong: A dust storm threatened to tip the Ares 3 Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) and strand the entire crew on Mars a defunct MAV would render impossible any return to their ship and eventually to Earth. The first two missions went well, but Watney’s team was forced to abandon their mission within days. Watney is a member of the Ares 3 crew, the third mission to Mars. The Martian is set in 2035 and follows Mark Watney, an American astronaut who becomes stranded on Mars.

This study guide refers to the 2014 Broadway Books paperback edition.

The martian weir novel