Icarus (myth)

The Icarus myth was a myth from the ancient history of the planet Earth.

Background
According to myth, Icarus was a young man who had an ambition to fly. He crafted wings out of wax and flew high into the air. But as punishment from the gods for being too ambitious, the wings melted and Icarus fell into the sea, where he drowned. 

The fabled Icarus had a comet, a Federation starbase, and a variety of vessels named in his honor, including a NASA space shuttle, a USS Enterprise shuttlecraft, and the USS Icarus (Excelsior class) on which Kathryn Janeway served as an ensign.

History
In the year 2270, Garth of Izar reflected on the Icarus myth when hundreds of exiled, shape-changing Antosians morphed into large birds to fly away from the island of Acra in a desperate, suicidal flight over an ocean to the coast. Garth realized they would not have the endurance to survive such a trip, and thought of the myth when the first Antosian fell into the sea. 

In 2372, on the planet Sardalia, Tom Paris found a hang glider-like set of polymer wings like those worn by Sardalians. He imagined that someone would be able to use the equipment to fly along thermal currents high enough to signal USS Voyager. Paris strapped the wing harness to Harry Kim. As Marima helped, Kim described the myth to her, concerned that the apparatus wouldn’t support him and he’d fall into the sea. 

In 2374, Jean-Luc Picard regarded the Icarus myth and the myth of the Sky Divers when he saw several Imotru gliders fall from the sky into a lake.