Rocket Men: A brief history of the jetpack

A great way to avoid traffic jams and the vagaries of public transport Photograph: Corbis

Stuart Ross from Horsham, West Sussex, with his homemade rocket belt. Ross is preparing for his first untethered test flight and sought advice from the Civil Aviation Authority, who referred him to a psychiatrist Photograph: Andrew Hasson/Guardian

The rocketbelt on which Ross based his design was invented in the 1950s by Bell Aircraft Company engineer Wendell Moore. Here, Bell engineer Harold Graham demonstrates the company's rocketbelt at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in 1961 Photograph: Ed Clark/Getty

Sean Connery having a blast as James Bond in the 1965 movie Thunderball Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar

Bill Scooter drops into the stadium at the opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles Photograph: AP

The Rocketeer was a 1991 superhero romp based on the comic book of the same name. It told the story of a young stunt pilot who discovers a mysterious rocket pack that allows him to fly Photograph: Kobal

Eric Scott flies over the Sambadrome at the 2001 Rio Carnival in Brazil. He made five flights propelled by an 800-horsepower, £170,000 jetpack developed by Nasa. Each flight lasted just 30 seconds Photograph: Eraldo Peres/AP

Tom Cruise and Neal McDonough as jet-propelled crime prevention officers in Minority Report, 2002 Photograph: AFP

In 2004, a few years after his carnival stunt, Eric Scott rose to a record-breaking 152ft over Stoke Newington, London Photograph: Rex Features

Dan Schlund, AKA The Rocketman, gives a demonstration at Melbourne Showgrounds in 2005. To date, no practical application has been found for jetpacks, though demonstrations at public events remain popular Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty

Personalised rocket flight finally lived up to its fictional origins earlier this year when former Swiss military pilot Yves Rossy, AKA FusionMan, flew over the Swiss Alps Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters

Swiss daredevil Yves Rossy became the first human to fly across the Channel strapped to a jet-powered wing Photograph: AFP