Throughout The Martian, the narrative perpetually weighs the worth and cost of a human life—an evaluative process complicated by individual and bureaucratic interests. The people at NASA, the crew in the Hermes, and even Watney himself are constantly making urgent life-and-death decisions that concern their own and others’ lives. These decisions often represent moral quandaries that have far-reaching consequences—not just for Watney but for NASA as well. Although Teddy, the head of NASA, clearly and deeply cares about Watney’s survival, he often makes unpopular decisions to preserve the organization and control its public image through the media.

Once NASA discovers Watney is alive, the decision-making process immediately gets complicated by the fact that they are required to publicly release this information within 24 hours of discovering it. Suddenly, the entire world is scrutinizing both the situation and NASA’s response to it. More people become engaged in the decision-making, and the agendas of the people making the decisions vary. Teddy’s decision-making is primarily driven by his responsibility to all the astronauts, not just Watney. For example, when he disallows the Rich Purnell maneuver, he states that he can’t approve a low risk to six astronauts versus a high risk to one astronaut: “I’m not gambling five additional lives to save one.