Area 51 is the common name of a highly classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility located within the Nevada Test and Training Range. A remote detachment administered by Edwards Air Force Base, the facility is officially called Homey Airport (XTA/KXTA) or Groom Lake[1] (after the salt flat situated next to its airfield). Details of the facility's operations are not made public, but the USAF says that it is an open training range,[2] and it is commonly thought to support the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems.[3][2] The USAF acquired the site in 1955, primarily for flight testing the Lockheed U-2 aircraft.[4]


Homey Airport

Near Rachel, Lincoln County, Nevada in the United States

A pseudocolor satellite image taken in 2000 showing the base with Groom Lake just to the north-northeast.

A pseudocolor satellite image taken in 2000 showing the base with Groom Lake just to the north-northeast.

Air Force Materiel Command.png

Homey Airport is located in the United StatesHomey AirportHomey Airport

Location in the United States

Coordinates : 37°14′0″N 115°48′30″W

Type : US Air Force facility

Site information

Owner : Department of Defense

Operator : US Air Force

Controlled by : Air Force Materiel Command

Condition : Operational

Site history

Built : 1955 (as Paradise Ranch)

In use : 1955 – present

Events : Storm Area 51 (2019)

Garrison information

Garrison : Air Force Test Center (Detachment 3)

Airfield information

Identifiers : IATA: XTA[disputed – discuss], ICAO: KXTA, FAA LID: XTA

Elevation : 1,341.1 metres (4,400 ft) AMSL

Runways

Direction Length and surface

14/32 3,657.6 metres (12,000 ft) Asphalt

09L/27R 3,470 metres (11,385 ft) Dry lake

09R/27L 3,470 metres (11,385 ft) Dry lake

03L/21R 3,048 metres (10,000 ft) Dry lake

03R/21L 3,048 metres (10,000 ft) Dry lake

The intense secrecy surrounding the base has made it the frequent subject of conspiracy theories and a central component of unidentified flying object (UFO) folklore.[5][6] The base has never been declared a secret base, but all research and occurrences in Area 51 are Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI).[7] The CIA publicly acknowledged the existence of the base for the first time on June 25, 2013, following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed in 2005, and, at the same time, they declassified documents detailing the history and purpose of Area 51.[8]


Area 51 is located in the southern portion of Nevada, 83 miles (134 km) north-northwest of Las Vegas. The surrounding area is a popular tourist destination, including the small town of Rachel on the "Extraterrestrial Highway".


Now some mystery about Area 51

rea 51 has been shrouded in mystery for decades, so it only makes sense that the rumored alien secrets held within the remote desert site would get a reboot in the social media age.


The internet has been invaded by Area 51 memes inspired by a joke Facebook event to take over the secretive military site and find the supposed aliens kept inside. The event, called “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us,” is planned for Sept. 20, and so far 1.5 million people have signed on.


As far back as the 1950s, people have reported seeing Unidentified Flying Objects (U.F.O.’s) at the southern Nevada military base.


On June 17, 1959, the Reno Evening Gazette published a story with the headline “More Flying Objects Seen In Clark Sky,” and described how Sgt. Wayne Anderson of the local sheriff’s office was among several locals to spot what the paper described as an object “bright green in color and descending toward the earth at a speed too great to be an airplane.”


According to the CIA, secretive flight testing has been happening in the area since the military began testing U-2 CIA spy planes in 1955, around the time reports of U.F.O. sightings started to come out — but that news has done little to quell the otherworldly theories that have long surrounded the enigmatic site.


Here’s everything to know about the history of Area 51, and why more than a million people want to “see them aliens.”