At the end of The Martian, we see Mark Watney finally returning to home on Earth. This nearly two-year struggle however, was not overcome on his own. NASA, the China National Space Administration, and even his crew on Hermes all had a part in his rescue and return to Earth.  Everyone involved in his rescue could have simply chosen to go on with their lives and not pay Mark any mind. They could have assumed that the worst would happen—that he wouldn’t survive long enough for them to rescue him. Instead, countless people, most who do not have any direct affiliation with Mark, put blood, money, sweat, and tears to bring one man home.

In the novel, Mark claims that the only reason he survived was because “every human being has a basic instinct to help each other,” even if we might not act this way most of the time.