Area 51 is the unofficial name for a United States military installation popular in UFO folklore. UFO stands for unidentified flying object. Some people think UFO’s are alien spacecraft (see Unidentified flying object (UFO)). Area 51 is about 85 miles (137 kilometers) northwest of Las Vegas. It lies within the Nevada Test and Training Range, a U.S. Air Force installation.
Government officials have long been reluctant to discuss Area 51, stating that highly classified activities have taken place near the site. In 2013, the Central Intelligence Agency acknowledged that top-secret aircraft, including the U-2 spy plane, were developed at Area 51. Such planes fly faster than normal planes and have unusual shapes. These aircraft may account for some UFO reports. Such reports, together with the installation’s secrecy, have led to a number of conspiracy theories about Area 51. A popular one claims that Area 51 houses the wreckage—and possibly the alien crew—of a spacecraft that supposedly crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947 (see Roswell).
