Better to see the Bell rocket belt in the new traveling exhibition, Above and Beyond, opening at NASM in August. Because even in our jaded age, the jet pack still fires the imagination.

Narrator: This is the world's fastest jet-pack system, capable of reaching up ... It was known as the Bell Rocket Belt and had of maximum flight duration of 20 to 30 seconds.

Thirty-six years later, the Bug basks in newfound acclaim while the Rocket Belt remains a minor footnote to aviation history. Built by Bell Aerospace of Buffalo, New York, only a scant few of the ...