The Martian - Characters & Important Events

Mark Watney

I sure HOPE you know this guy

Rick Martinez

Ares III pilot, funny, devout Christian

Venkat Kapoor

Director of Mars missions, works hard to make rescue plans

Rich Purnell

NASA astrodynamicist who works at the jet propulsion laboratory, awkward

Alex Vogel

German astronaut serving as chemist (bomb guy)

Randall Carter

Mars meteorologist, warns NASA of dust storm

Beth Johanssen

Serves as chief systems engineer, chosen to be the one who stays alive in case of disaster

Bruce Ng

Director of jet propulsion laboratory at NASA

Mindy Park

Staffer at Mission Control who is the first to discover Watney is alive, job is to keep track of Watney via satellites

Annie Montrose

Head of NASA’s public relations, (people kinda find her annoying)

Chris Beck

Serves as flight doctor, biologist, and EVA specialist

Melissa Lewis

Mission commander, geologist, loves disco, takes news of Watney’s survival hard

Teddy Sanders

Director of NASA, (lowkey coward)

Mitch Henderson

Mission director, lowkey a jerk

Mark Watney’s “Death”

A powerful sand storm hit Mars causing 5 of 6 crew members to evacuate, leaving Mark stranded, Mark was impaled with debris, leaving them to think he had died

Finding out Mark is alive

Mindy discovered Mark was alive & told everyone at NASA, but info was kept from the crew

Iris Probe

Unmanned spacecraft to send supplies to Watney but was rushed and exploded shortly after launch

Hab “bomb”

Mark Watney’s accidental creation of an explosion while trying to make water

Taiyang Shen

Secret Chinese probe that was originally designed to orbit Venus and Mercury, but ended up being used to send supplies

Pathfinder Trip & Communication

By driving his rover to the pathfinder landing site & digging it up, he establishes communication with NASA

Losing Contact with NASA & Morse Code

An accidental short circuit fries the pathfinder electronics, cutting communications, but he uses Morse code to communicate

The Dust Storm

While Mark is driving to the Ares IV landing site, another dust storm occurs, affecting his solar panels. He linked it to it being in a circular shape, and drove around it.

Traveling to Ares IV

Watney had to go to the Ares IV’s MAV to launch to meet up with Hermes

MAV Modifications

Watney is forced to significantly modify the Ares IV MAV so that it would be light enough to launch

Saving Mark

During the rescue, Watney’s MAV doesn’t reach the correct altitude, Hermes disobeys NASA and performs a risky trajectory maneuver to get closer