Ballantine Books is releasing a beautiful new edition of Andy Weir's "The Martian" on May 26, 2026. (Image credit: Getty Images / Ballantine Books)

New York Times bestselling author Andy Weir's "The Martian" was a publishing phenomenon when it first dropped 15 years ago. From humble beginnings as a free serialized novel on Weir’s website, it became a 99-cent Amazon Kindle offering before catching the attention of the editors at Penguin Random House.

With their help, the sci-fi survival novel centering on NASA astronaut Mark Watney, who becomes stranded on the Red Planet, became the perfect sci-fi book for its time.…