Pretty sure the North Korean mission was intended to be a one way trip. Like maaaaaaybe they told Lt. Col. Dumpling and his unnamed co-pilot that the plan was to hitch a ride back with the Russians...but they also gave them a loaded gun. As for the supply issue, someone on Reddit broke it down (can't find the link rn) that it's actually pretty feasible to stuff a Soyuz with enough food/water/air cyclers to make it to Mars, and given that his co-pilot died on impact he'd have double supplies.
As for exiling Danny, yes while he's a trained astronaut he's also a clear and obvious liability - he might have gone cold turkey but he still got three people killed and fell off the wagon like he was getting out of bed. Pretty much everything that went wrong on Mars post-landing can be traced back to him. Given that Ed came like,
this close to murdering him after he confessed to the drilling accident and begged Ed to basically let him kill himself launching Kelly to Phoenix I don't think giving him a broom and telling him to sit in the corner is gonna work.
Wrenn Schmidt, the actress who plays Margo, gave an interview with Vulture where she explained that for Margo it's always about the work. She actually compares her to Michael Mann's professional thieves in Heat, who keep taking scores even when they know the police are after them because that's where the "juice" is. Given the choice between spending the rest of her life in prison (no fucking way was she going to be able to cut a deal, the FBI had her dead to rights) and still getting to advance the cause of space flight with a new boss, she's gonna pick the latter every time.
In bridging the seasons, they show a map of communist countries aligned with the USSR. I wonder if SEATO is still a thing
