Earlier quoted context omitted.
Was it? Hollywood has been caught lying about that to seem more authentic before. https://www.redsharknews.com/why-do-movies-still-insist-ther...
There are tons of behind the scenes pictures and video of the Rocky puppet being used on set, and Andy Weir talks in interviews about how almost no CG was used to enhance the puppet. I guess it's possible to fake all that, but it's a lot of lie to cover up.
They were caught editing the behind the scenes videos themselves to remove bluescreens. You can't trust BTS footage to be 100% real anymore.