Hero's Journey by STUDENT Noah Gindelberger

Ordinary World

ngindelberger93 — 2025-05-04 17:20:53 UTC

Mark is an astronaut on the Ares III mission to mars. In the beginning the mission is going as planned, and the crew is working together to complete their objective on mars until...

Call to adventure

ngindelberger93 — 2025-05-04 17:21:13 UTC

A dust storm hits and Mark is trapped under debris and the crew presumes he is dead and they are forced to leave mars without him. He wakes up and realizes he is stranded on Mars.

Reluctance

ngindelberger93 — 2025-05-04 17:21:40 UTC

Initially, mark is in shock and despair at his isolation and seemingly hopeless situation. He is depressed but eventually he gets to work to survive on mars

Crossing the first threshold

ngindelberger93 — 2025-05-04 17:37:59 UTC

Mark has to make it back to the habitat after waking up, when he gets there he has to remove debris from his body and staple his own wound so he doesn't bleed out

Mentor figure steps in

ngindelberger93 — 2025-05-04 17:38:13 UTC

There isn't necessarily a mentor figure, but Marks knowledge of Botany and other sciences assists him in surviving on mars.

Test, allies, and enemies encountered

ngindelberger93 — 2025-05-04 17:38:34 UTC

Mark's biggest test is surviving on Mars. He is able to grow potatoes and create water using his scientific knowledge. He also makes contact with NASA and they help him

The inmost cave

ngindelberger93 — 2025-05-04 17:38:48 UTC

After NASA learns about Mark's survival, they plan a rescue mission, the Iris probe. Mark learns about the probe and is excited about the idea of surviving, but also he now has to manage to ration all of his food until resupply.

The ordeal

ngindelberger93 — 2025-05-04 17:38:53 UTC

NASA needs to rush the mission in order to have it reach Mark in time, so they skip the inspections phase leading the supplies in the ship to be ruined and the ship becomes lopsided and it ends up crashing. This failure of the supplies being sent leads Mark to feel hopeless, as now he doesn't know how he is going to be rescued until NASA reveals a desperate plan.

Reward

ngindelberger93 — 2025-05-04 17:39:02 UTC

Astrophysicist Rich Purnell proposes the idea of using Earths gravity to slingshot the original crew back to mars in order to do a drive by rescue of Mark. This is Mark's reward after the ordeal because now there is a plan to rescue him.

The road back

ngindelberger93 — 2025-05-04 17:39:07 UTC

Mark has to take a 7 month journey to the rendezvous point alone in the rover, and once he gets there he has to dismantle the ship to make it light enough to escape orbit. This is his deadly and isolated journey back to normalcy.

Resurrection

ngindelberger93 — 2025-05-04 17:39:13 UTC

Once mark lifts off he and the crew realizes that the separation between the ship is too great compared to their relative velocity so they must preform a risky maneuver where Mark cuts a hole in his glove to use the relative pressure to push himself towards commander Lewis who is in a tethered Manned Maneuvering Unit and Watney is recused

The elixir is provided

ngindelberger93 — 2025-05-04 17:39:35 UTC

Mark is rescued by his crew, returning to Earth with a profound experience of survival, resilience, and the interconnectedness of humanity, inspiring people worldwide.