The recent progress in our experimental investigation on the air‐breathing mode of laser propulsion has been reported. With a high power TEA‐CO2pulsed Laser, both horizontal and vertical propulsion experiments were conducted. The energy of each pulse is 15–18J. The frequency can be adjusted from 20–180Hz. Several parabolic reflectors of aluminum alloy with different focus f were used in the experiments. A high speed CCD camera was applied to record movement variables of the reflectors. For single pulse experiments, the measured momentum coupling coefficient Cmis 27.7dyne.s/J for f=10mm, and 22.82dyne.s/J for f=15mm. For multi‐pulse experiments (frequency 50Hz, work time 0.5s), the horizontal propulsion distance was greater than 1.5m, and the vertical propulsion height exceeded 1m, but the average Cmis lower than that of single pulse experiments. © 2004 American Institute of Physics