NASA teams up with the Chinese to launch the Taiyang Shen, to bring with the Hermes spacecraft, which docks successfully. Mark Watney now finishes his modifications to the rover; one part of it, though, is drilling a backbreaking 750 holes in it. He also plans out his route to the Schiaparelli crater, 3200 kilometres from the Hab, where a Mars Ascent Vehicle is located. Finally he leaves, but with a dust storm coming, again. And as he passes the storm and enters the crater, the rover topples. Finally, after reaching the MAV and making modifications to it, he is ready to launch for the return back to Earth...
Mark Watney, the protagonist of The Martian, is a hard-working man who does a lot of tiring work each day to cope with the situation of being stuck on Mars. He is stranded for 549 sols, or about 566 days. He is a round character, and we know a lot about him: he is a botanist, an astronaut and a mechanical engineer. It is partially his botany skills that keep him alive. He is an extreme risk-taker, though, taking unthinkable risks. For instance, when he tries to make water using H₂ and O₂ gases, he blows himself up due to an abrupt increase in pressure.
This, overall, is a must-read book. It reminds us that space travel is dangerous and that we must always consider the risks. Any person who is into mechanical engineering or chemistry, or basically anyone interested in space, will definitely like this book. Just watch out, though, there are a LOT of curse words in there, which is the one thing I detest about this book, as I don't really swear. I'd highly recommend this to basically anyone.
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