11. Engineers of the 20th century were anxiously anticipating the arrival of the jetpack and, sadly, we are all still waiting
The jetpack has been a focal point of human technological imagination for over a century, with countless fictitious depictions throughout popular culture and persistent public enthusiasm for the eventual delivery of the exciting mode of travel. Beginning with Jules Verne in 1886 predicting the future development of “flying machines” that might allow mankind to walk upon the air, by the 1930s humanity was eager for the invention that might elevate them to the skies at will but also optimistic that it would come relatively soon. However, the sort of device demonstrated in the above advert, believed at the time to be a near-future creation, remains an elusive goal of modern technologists and inventors.
Through efforts in the 1950s, including the Thiokol Chemical Corporation’s nitrogen-fueled “jump belt”, the Hiller “VZ-1 Flying Platform”, employing two engines, propellers and a fan, to the “Bell Rocket Belt” in 1960, the closest these experiments were capable of achieving was 21 seconds of trust. Despite this limited real-world capability, the latter device was famously piloted by James Bond in the 1965 movie “Thunderball”, renewing popular interest in the creation of the jetpack due to its greater-than-life propulsion. By 1994, the jetpack had technically been invented, but was only usable in outer space: the SAFER, or Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue, for use when an astronaut comes untethered during a spacewalk. Several efforts have continued during the early 21st century, including failed attempts by the Myth Busters team in 2005, Swiss pilot Yves Rossy, who crashed into the Strait of Gibraltar after trying to fly over the Swiss Alps with a kerosene-burning winged jetpack, and the mere illusion of jet-propelled flight via the Jetlev: a water-propelled jetpack which can hover people are heights of 30 feet.