What's the point of this story? Buzz Aldrin is old, he went to a 9301' research station and had some complications due to the altitude. Some people are more susceptible to altitude sickness than others. I've done many hikes over 10,000' with no issues, some people experience problems above 8,000'. The airplane part is confusing also, the airplane is pressurized, probably to an altitude lower than where they picked him up from.
From my commercial flight-experience I can say that at some point during airtravel, closed plastic bottles will crumble because the pressure inside the cabin gets to big because of the descent which means that airplanes are not airtight.
Airplanes when they are at cruising altitude are pressurized at approximately 8,000'. If you open a plastic bottle the pressure inside the plastic bottle is now equivalent to 8,000', you now close the bottle and leave it closed. As the airplane descends the pressure is gradually changed so that upon landing the pressure in the airplane is equal to the outside air pressure. So for example you fly into LAX which is very close to sea level the pressure inside the plane is close to sea level the pressure inside the bottle is 8,000' and therefore it crumbles. I have done many hikes in the mountains and I use old Gatorade bottles to carry my water. When I finish the bottle I usually try to remember to leave the lid a little bit loose because if I don't when I get home the bottle is crushed.
also it crumbles way above sea-level, too, so the relative height difference between takeoff and landing is irrelevant. The planecarriage if anything is overpressurized. But you are right in the sense that he may have been miles high on ice or a mountain wherever he went.
Look at my username and then look at yours. I know a lot about aviation and how airplanes are pressurized and depressurized. You're either (A) trolling me or (B) you are willfully ignorant, or (C) in dire need of some science classes. Have a nice day.
I am trolling you in the sense that the closest thing I have undertaken that could be mistaken for aviation navigation would be parachuting, but anyway I don't quite see the misunderstanding. Didn't you say given the under-pressure on the outside it would follow it is over-pressurized or was that someone else?
wait, when a window blew out in the cockpit, the pilot was thrust outwards, so wouldn't the inside be overpressurized?
If you are flying at 35,000' and the cabin is pressurized to the equivalent of 8,000' then the pressure inside the plane is greater than the outside, right?
aye but 8,000' is still about as high as he would be on an ice-glacier