Last night, in response to favorable reviews here from USMA list subscribers, I watched “The Martian” at a commercial movie theater.
Yes. The use of SI Units of Measurement for distance and speed is encouraging, but the “lom” sound in the word “kilometer" was a disappointment. Also objectionable was the entirely unnecessary swearing and blasphemy. NASA (and JPL) employees don’t talk that way. (I hold a 10 year NASA service pin.) I favor continued probing of “deep space” by robots, but not travel to Mars by humans. It is too expensive to sustain life in deep space, and the probability of fatalities is too great. Technical details of “The Martian” are well presented photographically, but the plot and sub plots are nearly pure fiction, although they may qualify as good entertainment. Supporters of manned space exploration will appreciate the potential boost in funding for NASA that this movie will likely produce. Is it not Russia rather than China that boosts personnel to the International Space Station? Eugene Mechtly
