ABSTRACT
In the 1960s, Bell Aerosystems was awarded a contract by the U.S. Army to develop a device that would allow a single individual to fly. The end result was the “Bell Rocket Belt.” Unfortunately, despite its careful design, the rocket belt had a serious limitation: it could fly for only about 30 seconds. Unless a testing program takes into account the requirements needed to sustain a test, it may suffer a similar fate—the initial test launch is spectacular but its existence short-lived.
