Area 51

Area 51 is a secretive U.S. Air Force base located in southern Nevada, about 83 miles north-northwest of Las Vegas, within the Nevada Test and Training Range. It is a remote site managed by Edwards Air Force Base and goes by the official names Homey Airport or Groom Lake, the latter referring to the salt flat next to its airfield. While the Air Force states it is an open training range, the facility is widely believed to be used for developing and testing experimental aircraft and weapons. The U.S. Air Force and CIA acquired the site in 1955, mainly for flight tests of the Lockheed U-2 spy plane.

All work and events at Area 51 are classified as Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information. The CIA publicly confirmed the base’s existence in June 2013, following a Freedom of Information Act request filed in 2005, and has since released declassified documents about its history and purpose. The heavy secrecy has fueled many conspiracy theories and made the base a key part of UFO folklore. The area around it, including the small town of Rachel along the so-called "Extraterrestrial Highway," is a popular tourist destination.

The original base is a rectangular area 6 by 10 miles, part of a larger restricted airspace called the "Groom box" that measures 23 by 25 miles. It connects to the Nevada Test Site road network, with paved roads leading south to Mercury and west to Yucca Flat. Groom Lake Road, a wide and well-maintained route, runs northeast from the lake through a pass in the Jumbled Hills. It passes a security checkpoint, with the restricted area extending further east. After leaving the restricted zone, the road descends into Tikaboo Valley, passing dirt-road entrances to small ranches before meeting State Route 375 south of Rachel. Area 51 shares a border with Yucca Flat, where 739 of the 928 nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site were conducted. The Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository lies southwest of Groom Lake.

Groom Lake itself is a salt flat used as runways by the Nellis Bombing Range Test Site airport on the north side of Area 51. It sits about 25 miles south of Rachel, in Groom Lake Valley within the Tonopah Basin. At roughly 4,409 feet above sea level, it measures about 3.75 miles north to south and 3 miles east to west at its widest point.

The name "Area 51" likely comes from an Atomic Energy Commission numbering grid, though the site is not part of that system and lies next to Area 15. Another theory is that the number 51 was chosen because it seemed unlikely for the AEC to use it. The CIA refers to the facility as Homey Airport and Groom Lake, but the name "Area 51" appears in a CIA document from the Vietnam War. Nicknames include "Paradise Ranch" and "Dreamland," the latter being the approach control call sign for the area. Air Force public relations has called it "an operating location near Groom Dry Lake." The special use airspace around the field is known as Restricted Area 4808 North.

Lead and silver were discovered in the southern Groom Range in 1864. The English company Groome Lead Mines Limited financed the Conception Mines in the 1870s, giving the district its name. Nearby mines included Maria, Willow, and White Lake. J. B. Osborne and partners gained control of Groom in 1876, and his son took over in the 1890s. Mining continued until 1918, resumed after World War II, and lasted until the early 1950s. The airfield at Groom Lake first opened in 1942 as Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, with two unpaved 5,000-foot runways.

The CIA set up the Groom Lake test facility in April 1955 for Project AQUATONE, the development of the Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. Project director Richard M. Bissell Jr. knew that flight tests and pilot training could not be done at Edwards or Lockheed’s Palmdale facility due to extreme secrecy. He searched for a suitable testing site under the same tight security. After notifying Lockheed, an inspection team visited Groom Lake. Lockheed’s U-2 designer Kelly Johnson described flying over it and immediately knowing it was the place—a dry lake that looked like another Edwards, smooth and natural. The lake bed was ideal for testing, and the surrounding mountains and Nevada Test Site perimeter kept the site isolated, about 100 miles north of Las Vegas. The CIA asked the AEC to acquire the land, marked as "Area 51" on the map, and add it to the test site. Johnson called it "Paradise Ranch" to encourage workers to move there, and the name was shortened to "the Ranch." On May 4, 1955, a survey team arrived and laid out a 5,000-foot north–south runway on the southwest corner of the lake.