Lincoln came up with the idea and immediately put it into action.
During the free discussion phase in the latter part of the meeting, Lincoln proposed the idea:
If one wanted to build a large aircraft capable of operating in the upper atmosphere, what feasible routes would there be, based on current technology and disregarding the issue of cost?
If not feasible, what technological challenges would need to be overcome?
If it were possible, then taking it a step further, how about making this large aircraft break through the atmosphere and travel to and from low Earth orbit?
Generally speaking, such questions wouldn't appear at a top-level academic conference, but are more commonly found in science fiction enthusiast forums, or as homework assignments that professors give to students in university elective courses.
After all, they are much more about curiosity than practicality.
But Lincoln was different.
