Chapter 26

Global audiences gather as Hermes conducts the remote MAV launch. The countdown proceeds, but Watney endures extreme g-forces; the improvised canvas rip causes severe drag. Martinez fights sluggish control while Johanssen reports low altitude. Watney briefly loses consciousness and awakens in orbit with a gaping hole in the MAV.

Johanssen calculates a disastrous 68 km intercept; Lewis authorizes burning most attitude fuel to close the range, yielding a 42 m/s relative speed they cannot shed. After rejecting Watney’s "Iron Man" glove-vent idea, Lewis adapts the concept: vent Hermes’s atmosphere via the vehicular airlock to produce thrust.

Vogel fabricates a small sugar–liquid oxygen bomb wired to a lighting circuit; Beck locks the outer VAL door open and traverses the hull; the bridge and reactor room are sealed. On Lewis’s mark, Johanssen triggers the device, blasting the airlock and imparting unexpected extra delta-v, reducing intercept to ~22 m at 12 m/s.

Beck leaps from Airlock 2, MMU-thrusts to the battered MAV, grabs torn canvas, and reaches Watney. With seconds of tether remaining, Beck clips their suits together, frees Watney, and departs. Short on MMU fuel, Vogel manages the tether friction to bleed velocity, then reels both men back into Airlock 2.

Lewis announces all six crew aboard, prompting worldwide celebration. Post-repressurization, Watney’s log notes two broken ribs, a foul state after months alone, and profound gratitude for the multinational effort. With Hermes intact and 211 days to Earth, Watney reflects on humanity’s instinct to help.