The martian spacecontrol how to#
The martian spacecontrol movie#

From a technical perspective, the hardware depicted in the film looks pretty good.

The martian spacecontrol movie#

Not just the mission, but also several aspects of the physical reality of the movie are convincing. You have to believe that you are going to survive, and practice how you are going to do it. A big part of ISS training involves drills in isolating leaks and toxic-chemical release, as well as fighting and retreating from fire. When I was the EVA leader of the second major ISS-assembly Space Shuttle mission, it became almost my obsession to make sure we had thought through and practiced for every little thing that could go wrong during our EVAs.Дuring survival training, new astronaut candidates are drilled in never giving up. This is how we are evaluated, but more importantly, this is how we evaluate ourselves.Дuring the assembly phase of the International Space Station (ISS), each assembly mission had to succeed in order for the following mission to work. It is in our nature to want to achieve or exceed mission objectives. This seems true to life.ДЄstronauts have a deep sense of mission, and a strong will to survive.

The martian spacecontrol how to#

The movie holds up on this account.ДЄt this point in the film, Watney must figure out how to let NASA know that he is alive, and how to extend his resources, so he can survive until a rescue mission can be mounted. In those cases, it is up to individual and collective creativity to solve the problem and try for a good outcome. Astronauts and NASA think through every scenario as thoroughly as possible, and plan for every reasonable contingency. The movie portrays the operational side of things pretty well. It would appear that he has survived his injuries and near suffocation, only to face starvation. The life-support systems are working, but he has no communication with the crew or mission control back on Earth. After collecting himself and taking stock of the situation, he comes to understand that while he is safe for the moment, he has only enough food for a little more than 30 days. He wakes up, realizes his situation and stumbles into the habitation module of the Mars base. His suit is beeping, with a voice alarm warning him of low remaining oxygen. Lewis reluctantly returns and gives the order to abort, leaving Watney, presumed dead, behind.ДЄfter the storm passes, the audience sees Watney lying face down.

The storm worsens, and the crew must abort before the winds topple the MAV. Lewis orders the rest of the EVA crew back to the vehicle, while she searches for Watney. However, no biomedical data are received, leaving doubt as to his condition. Telemetry from his suit, being monitored inside the spacecraft, indicates that his suit pressure integrity has been breached. During the EVA, a piece of flying debris strikes astronaut Mark Watney ( Matt Damon ) and he disappears from view. A large storm approaches, and the crew retreats to its Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) to ride out the bad weather, and abort to orbit if conditions get beyond limits.ДЄfter the storm hits, mission commander Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain) leads an extra-vehicular activity (EVA) sortie back outside (for somewhat unclear reasons).

The film begins on the surface of Mars, where an international crew of astronauts is partway through its mission. So, it was with some anticipation that I watched the Houston preview of 'The Martian,' the movie version of the book, out in theaters next month. But I came to hear that it was a well-written, good story and that he didn't take too many technical liberties. I must admit that I was unaware of Weir's book at the time. The topic of course, was Mars and what it might be like to be an astronaut there. Some time ago, I participated in a remote panel discussion via streaming video that included Andy Weir, author of ' The Martian' (Crown, 2014). Chiao contributed this article to 's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. He also holds appointments at Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University. Chiao is the special adviser for human spaceflight to the Space Foundation and the Houston Association for Space and Science Education. During his 15-year flying career, he performed six spacewalks and spent nearly 230 days in space. Leroy Chiao, AstroCritic, is a former NASA astronaut and commander of the International Space Station.