The Martian Page #7

maritime law applies.

So Mars is international waters.

Now, NASA is an American

non-military organization.

It owns the Hab.

But the second I walk outside,

I'm in international waters.

So here's the cool part.

I'm about to leave for

the Schiaparelli Crater...

where I'm gonna commandeer

the Ares 4 lander.

Nobody explicitly gave me

permission to do this...

and they can't

until I'm on board the Ares 4.

So that means I'm gonna be

taking a craft over...

in international waters

without permission.

Which, by definition, makes me a pirate.

Mark Watney, Space Pirate.

A Space Pirate.

Everywhere I go, I'm the first.

It's a strange feeling.

Step outside the Rover...

first guy to be there.

Climb that hill, first guy to do that.

Four and a half billion years...

nobody here.

And now, me.

I'm the first person to be alone

on an entire planet.

How's he doing?

So far, so good.

He's sticking to schedule.

Drives for four hours before noon...

lays the solar panels,

waits 13 hours for them to recharge...

and sleeps somewhere in there

and then starts again.

How's he doing?

He asked us to call him

Captain Blondebeard.

Well, technically,

Mars would be under maritime...

Yeah, I know. He explained it to us.

Where is he?

-There.

-Okay.

Here.

Okay.

Okay, I'm gonna start by stating for the record

that you're not gonna like this.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah, the problem is the intercept velocity.

The Hermes, well...

It can't enter Mars' orbit.

Otherwise, they'll never have enough

fuel to make it home.

The MAV, that was only designed

to get to low Mars orbit.

So in order for Mark to escape

Mars' gravity entirely...

and to intercept the Hermes...

-He has to be going fast.

-Exactly.

Which means we need to make

the MAV lighter.

A lot lighter. 5,000 kilograms lighter.

You can do that, right?

There's some gimmes right off the bat.

The design presumes 500 kilograms

of Martian soil and samples.

Obviously we won't do that.

And there's just one passenger

instead of six.

With suits and gear, that's another 500?

Ditch the life support, don't need it.

And we'll get Mark to wear

his EVA suit the whole trip.

Wait a second. If he's in his EVA suit,

how is he gonna operate the controls?

Well, he won't.

Martinez will pilot the MAV

remotely from the Hermes.

We've never had a manned ship

controlled remotely before.

But I am excited about the opportunities

that affords.

If we go remote, we can lose the control panels,

the secondary and tertiary comm systems.

Wait a second.

You want a remote-controlled ascent

with no backup comms?

He's not even got to

the bad stuff yet, Vincent.

Let's skip to the bad stuff!

We need to remove the nose airlock,

the windows, and Hull Panel 19.

You want to take

the front of the ship off?

Sure.

The nose airlock alone is 400 kilograms.

You want to send a man into space

without the front of his ship?

Well, no.

We're gonna have him cover it

with Hab canvas.

Look, the hull's mostly there

to keep the air in.

Mars' atmosphere is so thin,

you don't need a lot of streamlining.

By the time the ship's going fast enough

for air resistance to matter...

it'll be high enough that

there's practically no air.

You wanna send him into space

under a tarp.

Yes.

Can I go on?

No.

You think he means it like...

"Are you kidding me?"

You know?

Or like, "Are you kidding me?"

I think it might be the second one.

Really?

Could be the first way.

"Are you kidding me?"

Yeah, it could be the first way.

I know what they're doing.

I know exactly what they're doing.

They just keep repeating...

"Go faster than any man

in the history of space travel."

Like that's a good thing.

Like it'll distract me from

how insane their plan is.

Yeah, I get to go faster than any man

in the history of space travel...

because you are launching me

in a convertible.

Actually it's worse than that because

I won't even be able to control the thing.

And by the way, physicists,

when describing things like acceleration...

do not use the word "fast."

So they're only doing that in the hopes

that I won't raise any objections...

to this lunacy.

Because I like the way "fastest man

in the history of space travel" sounds.

I do like the way it sounds.

I mean, I like it a lot.

I'm not gonna tell them that.

Okay.

Let's do this.

Come on.

Beck, Vogel, I want you guys in Airlock 2

with the outer door open...

-before the MAV even launches.

-Okay.

Martinez flies the MAV,

Johanssen sysops the ascent.

Once we hit intercept,

it's Beck's job to go get Watney.

We're ready.

What's the intercept plan?

We finished attaching the tethers

into one long line.

It's 214 meters long.

And I'll have the MMU,

so moving around should be easy.

How fast a relative velocity

can you handle?

I can grab the MAV

at 5 meters per second.

10 is like jumping onto a moving train.

So any more than that and I might miss.

Well, we may have some leeway.

The launch takes 12 minutes.

And it'll be 52 minutes before intercept.

Once Mark's engine shuts off...

we'll know our intercept point

and velocity.

Vogel, you're Beck's backup.

Everything goes well,

you pull them on board with the tether.

If anything goes wrong,

you go out after him.

Yep.

Okay.

Let's go get our boy.

There's a mood of tension and anxiety

here, outside Johnson Space Center.

As you can see,

many people have gathered here...

to see whether or not the mission

to retrieve Mark Watney will be a success.

They've had some contact with him,

but it hasn't been very much.

We have to remind our viewers

that we're watching this as it unfolds.

So we'll try and keep you up-to-date

as to what exactly is going on.

Let's listen in to NASA

making contact with Mark Watney.

Let's listen in.

If something goes wrong,

what can Mission Control do?

Not a damn thing.

It's all happening

12 light-minutes away...

which means it takes 24 minutes for them

to get the answer to any question they ask.

The whole launch is 12 minutes...

so they're on their own.

...just how long Mark has been

completely alone on Mars.

We're talking to a psychology

expert later to discuss...

Fuel pressure, green.

Engine alignment, perfect.

Communications, five by five.

We are ready

for pre-flight checklist, Commander.

Mission Control, this is Hermes actual.

We will proceed on schedule.

We are T-minus 2 minutes, 10 seconds

to launch, by the mark.

About two minutes, Watney.

How you doing down there?

I'm good.

I'm anxious to get up to you.

Thanks for coming back for me.

Well, we're on it.

Remember, you'll be pulling some serious G's,

so it's okay to pass out.

You're in Martinez's hands now.

Well, tell that a**hole no barrel rolls.

Copy that, MAV.

CAPCOM.

Go.

Remote command.

Go.

Recovery.

Go.

Secondary recovery.

Go.

Pilot.

Go.

Pilot.

Go.

Copy. We're go.

Mission Control, we are go for launch.

T-minus ten...

-nine...

-Main engine start.

eight...

seven...

Mooring clamps released.

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