The Trouble with Rocket Packs [Slideshow] [Extreme Tech]

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In the late 1940s the rocket pack--over the years also called the "rocket belt," "jump belt" and "jet vest"--became more than a comic book concept when engineers at the U.S. military's Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., began experimenting with rockets that could be used to carry a person into the air and allow him or her to land safely again using their feet as landing gear. In 1952 inventor Thomas Moore, strapped tightly to his cylindrical backpack, hovered in the air for just a few seconds at Redstone, but it was enough to launch a series of campaigns to develop the technology that would bring personal flight to life. [More]