Last fall, PopSci staff photographer John Carnett and writer Larry Smith spent a weekend at the home of self-taught jetpack builder Juan Manuel Lozano, in the suburbs of Mexico City. Here, we give you John's account of their time with the aspiring rocket man. To read more about Juan Lozano and his homebrew jetpack, click here.

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If he´s lucky, when he turns the throttle, his 90 percent hydrogen peroxide will expand to 5,000 times its size and convert to steam that will reach 1,300�F. If he´s lucky, he will then be thrust 30 feet into the air, where he will fly for as long as 30 seconds, all while tethered to a 20-foot safety pole. If he´s lucky, self-taught Mexican rocket scientist Juan Manuel Lozano will someday become one of just a handful of people in history to make an untethered flight with a rocket belt.