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Agencies

The truth is out there, and there are grand plans to find it.
As of Thursday, 1.6 million people had RSVP’d to a Facebook event called “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us”.
As the name suggests, the plan is to storm Area 51 – the notorious Nevada military base associated with extraterrestrial conspiracy theories.
“We will all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Centre tourist attraction and coordinate our entry,” the event description reads.
The prank event jokes “they can’t stop all of us” and “let’s see them aliens”.
It suggests that a mass of people attempt to run into the mysterious site at 3am on September 20.
The US military, however, does not seem to find the viral event very funny.

The US Air Force told The Washington Post that “[Area 51] is an open training range for the US Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces. The US Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets.”
And it’s not just the military that is taking the joke a little too seriously.
Apollo 11 moon landing conspiracy … the truth is out there
According to investigations by NPR, excited alien hunters have already booked up accommodation near Area 51 on the event date.
“I think they’re stupid if they think they’re going to get to the test site,” one hotel owner told NPR.
“But I’m gonna capitalise on it.”

After decades of government officials refusing to acknowledge Area 51, the CIA released declassified documents in 2013 referring to the 20,700 square kilometre installation by name and locating it on a map near the dry Groom Lake bed.
The base has been a testing ground for a host of top-secret aircraft, including the U-2 in the 1950s and later the B-2 stealth bomber.
Alien hunters in most extensive search of stars turn up nothing
But secrecy surrounding the site has fuelled conspiracy theories among UFO enthusiasts and sprouted a small, alien-themed tourist industry in surrounding desert communities, including alien-themed cafes, an alien-themed motel and an alien-themed brothel.
The Guardian and Associated Press


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UFOs and Extraterrestrial Life

‘Storm Area 51’: it started as a joke, but the US military isn’t amused

An alien sculpture in the town of Baker, California, known as the 'Gateway to Area 51’. Photo: AFP

FILE - In this April 10, 2002, file photo, a vehicle moves along the Extraterrestrial Highway near Rachel, Nev., the closest town to Area 51. The U.S. Air Force has warned people against participating in an internet joke suggesting a large crowd of people "storm Area 51," the top-secret Cold War test site in the Nevada desert. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch, File)

epa07715150 (FILE) The Area 51 Alien Center, a tourist attraction at a gas station, in Amargosa Valley, Nevada, USA, 12 March 2019 (reissued 13 July 2019). According to media reports, over 600,000 Facebook users have signed up for an event to storm Area 51, a secret US military base in in the desert of Nevada. The event in which participants hope to 'see them aliens' is scheduled for 20 September. EPA-EFE/BEN WENZ

Apollo 11 moon landing conspiracy … the truth is out there

Astronaut Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin walks on the moon, or in a Hollywood studio, depending who you ask. Photo: EPA

epa07672252 An undated handout photo made available by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shows the 'Apollo 11 lunar landing mission crew with (L-R) mission commander Neil A. Armstrong, command module pilot Michael Collins and lunar module pilot Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. posing in their space suits (issued 25 June 2019). The year 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, an event seen as the peak of the United States' space program of the 1960s which put an end to the so-called 'Race to Space' between the Cold War rivals the US and the Soviet Union, that once was triggered by the USSR's 04 October 1957 launch of the 'Sputnik 1' satellite. NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong made history when he stepped out of the Apollo 11's 'Eagle' landing module on 21 July 1969 and left the first human footprints on the moon. EPA-EFE/NASA HANDOUT ATTENTION: For the full PHOTO ESSAY text please see Advisory Notice epa07672247 HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

epa07672253 A handout photo made available by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shows Launch Control Center personnel watching as the 'Saturn V' rocket carrying the 'Apollo 11' astronauts lifts off the launch pad in Cape Canavarel on 16 July 1969 (issued 25 June 2019). The year 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, an event seen as the peak of the United States' space program of the 1960s which put an end to the so-called 'Race to Space' between the Cold War rivals the US and the Soviet Union, that once was triggered by the USSR's 04 October 1957 launch of the 'Sputnik 1' satellite. NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong made history when he stepped out of the Apollo 11's 'Eagle' landing module on 21 July 1969 and left the first human footprints on the moon. EPA-EFE/NASA HANDOUT BLACK/WHITE ONLY * ATTENTION: For the full PHOTO ESSAY text please see Advisory Notice epa07672247 HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

epa07672262 (FILE) - A handout photo made available by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shows 'Apollo 11' astronaut Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin's boot and footprint in lunar soil on 20 July 1969 (issued 25 June 2019). The year 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, an event seen as the peak of the United States' space program of the 1960s which put an end to the so-called 'Race to Space' between the Cold War rivals the US and the Soviet Union, that once was triggered by the USSR's 04 October 1957 launch of the 'Sputnik 1' satellite. NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong made history when he stepped out of the Apollo 11's 'Eagle' landing module on 21 July 1969 and left the first human footprints on the moon. EPA-EFE/EDWIN ALDRIN/NASA HANDOUT ATTENTION: For the full PHOTO ESSAY text please see Advisory Notice epa07672247 HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES *** Local Caption *** 01797767

epa07672259 (FILE) - A handout photo made available by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shows Earthrise viewed from the 'Apollo 11' mission's lunar landing module 'Eagle' prior to its landing on 20 July 1969 (issued 25 June 2019). The year 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, an event seen as the peak of the United States' space program of the 1960s which put an end to the so-called 'Race to Space' between the Cold War rivals the US and the Soviet Union, that once was triggered by the USSR's 04 October 1957 launch of the 'Sputnik 1' satellite. NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong made history when he stepped out of the Apollo 11's 'Eagle' landing module on 21 July 1969 and left the first human footprints on the moon. EPA-EFE/NASA HANDOUT ATTENTION: For the full PHOTO ESSAY text please see Advisory Notice epa07672247 HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES *** Local Caption *** 01797773

Astronaut Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin walks on the moon, or in a Hollywood studio, depending who you ask. Photo: AP

Alien hunters in most extensive search of stars turn up nothing

The International Space Station. Photo: Shutterstock

Two Earth-like planets located within the habitable zone around Teegarden’s star. Photo: Courtesy of Institute for Astrophysics/University of Göttingen

Researchers used ground-based telescopes such as the Green Bank telescope in West Virginia. Photo: AFP

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US Air Force warned people against taking part in an internet joke suggesting a large crowd of people ‘storm’ the top-secret site


The US Air Force has warned people against taking part in an internet joke suggesting a large crowd of people “storm Area 51”, the top-secret cold war test site in the Nevada desert.


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