U-2 operations halted in the late s, but other top secret military aircrafts continued tests at Area You got folks claiming it's extraterrestrial when it's really good old American know-how. And it's still going on today The flights are ongoing.
In September , an Air Force Lt. It seems he was most likely flying a foreign jet obtained by the United States. Even so, the alien conspiracies gained ground in when Bob Lazar claimed in an interview on Las Vegas local news that he'd seen aliens and had helped to reverse-engineer alien spacecrafts while working at the base. Many have disregarded this as fiction and are even offended at the notion, including Merlin, who has spent years talking with former Area 51 engineers and employees angered by all the fuss about E.
Today, Area 51 is still very much in use. According to Google Earth , new construction and expansions are continuously happening.
On most early mornings, eagle-eyed visitors can spot strange lights in the sky moving up and down. No, it's not a UFO. It's actually the semi-secret contract commuter airline using the call-sign "Janet" that transports workers from Las Vegas's McCarran Airport to the base.
As for what's happening these days in America's most secretive military base, few know for sure. Merlin has some educated guesses, including improved stealth technology, advanced weapons, electronic warfare systems and, in particular, unmanned aerial vehicles. Chris Pocock, noted U-2 historian and author of several books about the matter , told Popular Mechanics he thinks classified aircraft, more exotic forms of radio communication, directed energy weapons, and lasers are currently under development at the base.
While the lore around Area 51 may be nothing more than imaginative fiction, that won't stop people from gawking just beyond those chain link fences. Fact or fiction, aliens are a big tourism draw. In , the state of Nevada renamed Route as the "Extraterrestrial Highway," and destinations such as the Alien Research Center and the Little A'Le'Inn in the town of Rachel with a population around 54 dot the road.
To Area 51's west, there's the Alien Cathouse which is advertised as the only alien-themed brothel in the world.
Geocaching also attracts visitors here since the highway is considered a "mega-trial" with over 2, geocaches hidden in the area. Then there's the actual base. While getting inside is not in the cards for most, curious civilians can actually drive up to front and back gates. Locals will direct you, and the website Dreamland Resort is a great resource full of maps, driving directions, and first-hand accounts. However, one should be careful when planning a trek to Area It's the desert, after all, so bring plenty of water, snacks, and have proper weather gear—for the hot days and the cold nights.
Phone service and GPS probably won't work, so have printouts and actual maps. Gas stations are few and far in between, so carry spare fuel and tires. Also, remember the government doesn't really want you peering into Area Area 51 gets its name from old maps of the Nevada Test Site that defined the allocation of land around Groom Lake as literally the 51st of the many areas that make up the military base.
When Area 51 was first established, Lockheed—one of the U. Since the s, when locals and visitors to this part of the Silver State have spotted top secret aircraft, made of never-before-seen technology, flying at high speeds and performing uncommon aerial maneuvers, they were unsurprisingly mystified as to what they saw.
Currently, the closest you can drive to Area 51 keeps you more than 15 rugged, carefully monitored, and lethally defended miles away.
In addition to ghost towns and potential alien sightings, there are plenty of things to do near Area While the visit does not offer the chance to tour Area 51 itself, you can definitely get a sense for its Martian-esque terrain while piloting your own vessel around the surrounding wilderness.
It's been a perennial American obsession for more than 50 years. It's provided a shadowy backdrop for shows like "The X-Files" and movies like the summer blockbuster "Independence Day. The place: Area 51 , a remote patch of desert some 83 miles north-northwest of Las Vegas, next to a salt flat at the foot of a mountain. This military outpost — and what's happened inside it — is so top-secret that its very existence was disputed until But, because of its clandestine beginnings and cutting-edge tech, many Americans came to associate the base with extraterrestrial ships and little green men.
So, what is Area 51 really? What do we know for sure? How did a Cold War espionage operation become associated with theories of deep-state cover-ups of crash-landed aliens?
And why did dozens of people put their lives on hold in September to drive into the Nevada desert to stand outside of it? Here's what we do know about Area Today, the U. Air Force uses the 38,acre patch of desert as a training site. Sometimes called the Nevada Test and Training Range, the base is located next to a salt flat called Groom Lake and is home to some of the longest runways in the world. The closest town is Rachel, Nevada, population The airspace above the base is extremely off-limits.
And the land around it is peppered with warning signs to would-be trespassers. We also know that workers aren't commuting there by car. Air traffic control audio out of a private terminal at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport suggests that government-owned passenger jets flying under the name "Janet Airlines" make daily flights to and from… somewhere in the Nevada desert.
Not much was happening on this swath of land before World War II. In , prospectors discovered silver and lead around Groom Lake salt flat. A man named Patrick Sheahan built a humble homestead and founded Groom Mine in The Sheahans' homestead was about as isolated as it gets; Las Vegas wasn't even founded as a city until and was inaccessible by railroad until But the family's quiet lifestyle abruptly changed in , when the government sent agents to scout the area for use as a training site for bomber planes.
In March , President Dwight D. Eisenhower was worried that America's lack of knowledge of Russia's military developments might leave America vulnerable to attack. So Eisenhower recruited a panel of experts to figure out how the United States could use science to thwart a potential Russian attack. One thing was clear: The U. And once America had a blueprint in the works for a cutting-edge surveillance plane, a secure location would be required to assemble and test it.
A scouting group flew over Groom Lake.
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