# Read the first page of The Martian by Andy Weir Read the opening of The Martian by Andy Weir free, no signup. An astronaut is stranded alone on Mars and fights to survive. - Page: https://uncovered.ink/read/the-martian-andy-weir - Genre: Science fiction - Year: 2011 - ISBN: 9780553418026 - Read it blind (cover and title hidden): https://uncovered.ink/?b=9780553418026&s=read-page - Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/125786/9780553418026 - Borrow: https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=9780553418026 ## The opening I'm pretty much fucked. That's my considered opinion. Fucked. Six days into what should be the greatest month of my life, and it's turned into a nightmare. I don't even know who'll read this. I guess someone will find it eventually. Maybe a hundred years from now. For the record. I didn't die on Sol 6. Certainly the rest of the crew thought I did, and I can't blame them. Maybe there'll be a day of national mourning for me, and my Wikipedia page will say, "Mark Watney is the only human being to have died on Mars." And it'll be right, probably. 'Cause I'll surely die here. Just not on Sol 6 when everyone thinks I did. Let’s see . . . where do I begin? The Ares Program. Mankind reaching out to Mars to send people to another planet for the very first time and expand the horizons of humanity blah, blah, blah. The Ares I crew did their thing and came back heroes. They got the parades and fame and love of the world. Ares 2 did the same thing, in a different location on Mars. They got a firm handshake and a hot cup of coffee when they got home. Ares 3. Well, that was my mission. Okay, not mine per se. Commander Lewis was in charge. I was just one of her crew. Actually, I was the very lowest ranked member of the crew. I would only be "in command" of the mission if I were the only remaining person. What do you know? I'm in command. I wonder if this log will be recovered before the rest of the crew die of old age. I presume they got back to Earth all right. Guys, if you're reading this: It wasn't your fault. You did what you had to do. In your position I would have done the same thing. I don't blame you, and I'm glad you survived. I guess I should explain how Mars missions work, for any layman who may be reading this. We got to Earth orbit the normal way, through an ordinary ship to Hermes. All the Ares missions use Hermes to get to and from Mars. It's really big and costs a lot so NASA built only one. Once we got to Hermes, four additional unmanned missions brought us fuel and supplies while we prepared for our trip. Once everything was a go, we set out for Mars. But not very fast. Gone are the days of heavy chemical fuel burns and trans-Mars injection orbits. Hermes is powered by ion engines. They throw argon out the back of the ship really fast to get a tiny amount of acceleration. The thing is, it doesn't take much reactant mass, so a little argon (and a nuclear reactor to power things) let us accelerate constantly the whole way there. You'd be amazed at how fast you can get going with a tiny acceleration over a long time. I could regale you with tales of how we had great fun on the trip, but I won't. I don't feel like reliving it right now. Suffice it to say we got to Mars 124 days later without strangling each other. ## Books with a similar feel - [To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers](https://uncovered.ink/read/to-be-taught-if-fortunate-becky-chambers.md) - [Red Rising by Pierce Brown](https://uncovered.ink/read/red-rising-pierce-brown.md) - [Doomsday Book by Connie Willis](https://uncovered.ink/read/doomsday-book-connie-willis.md) - [Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang](https://uncovered.ink/read/stories-of-your-life-and-others-ted-chiang.md) - [Dark Matter by Blake Crouch](https://uncovered.ink/read/dark-matter-blake-crouch.md) - [The Singer's Gun by Emily St. John Mandel](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-singers-gun-emily-st-john-mandel.md) --- Source: Uncovered (https://uncovered.ink). A short sample shown for reading and discovery. Rights holders can request removal at https://uncovered.ink/takedown.