Area 51: The Pictures are Out There No Longer
Update: The Area 51 photographs referenced in the following article were removed from the Terraserver Web site in 2002.
If you missed the Area 51 pictures posted on the Internet at http://www.terraserver.com, it's too late, the photographs are no longer available.
When Raleigh, N.C.-based Aerial Images Inc. announced the five satellite images taken in collaboration with Microsoft, Kodak, Digital Equipment Corp., Autometric Inc. and the Russian agency Sovinformsputnik on Monday, their Web server immediately melted down from the load of UFO fans looking for alien spacecraft lined up on the tarmac.
The five pictures showed, in great detail, little more than an airbase. A base which the U.S. Air Force does, indeed, acknowledge as existing.
Quoted in an AP story of April 17, Air Force spokeswoman Gloria Cales stated of Area 51, "We acknowledge having an operating site there, and the work is classified." Cales added that the work of the base involves "operations critical to the U.S. military and the country's security."
The 8,000-square-mile Area 51 facility is located 75 miles northwest of Las Vegas, in the Nellis Mountains.
The super-secret, restricted access nature of the site has prompted many people to believe alien spacecraft are stored at Area 51, where their parts are utilized for building advanced U.S. military aircraft and weapons systems.
Area 51 is known to have been the test site of top-secret U.S. military aircraft including the U-2 spy plane, the SR-71 spy plane, the F-177A stealth fighter and B-2 stealth bomber.
Further evidence of the existence of an operating Air Force installation at Area 51 comes from the annual issuance of presidential executive orders exempting the Air Force from reporting hazardous waste events at Groom Lake (Area 51) in Nevada. (See related story.)
But, back to those pictures. The five images as annotated by Aerial Images, Inc. showed:
"Groom Lake AFB -- Also sometimes referred to as 'Area 51'"
"Mystery Airfield -- What do you think THIS is"? (Runways on a desert?)
"Airfield or target? -- What do YOU think lands here?" (Airplanes?)
"Strange symbol on the desert floor. -- Who made it and why?"
"Unidentified secret air base. -- High in the desert."
"The site of decades of nuclear tests." (Craters which like those made by conventional bombs.)
(Note: The above photos have been removed from Terraserver.)
In the pictures, you could also make out buildings, tennis courts, a baseball field, a running track and a swimming pool. There appeared to be no paved roads or parking areas and the only vehicles looked like busses.
The pictures were taken by a Russian satellite launched from from Kazakstan in 1998 to map the Earth's surface. Aerial Images, Inc. partnered with the Soviet agency Sovinformsputnik in the project.
The U.S. Air Force made no attempt to prevent the satellite from taking pictures of Area 51. In 1992, the United States, Russia and 24 other countries signed an "open-skies" agreement allowing satellite aerial photography to verify arms-control compliance.
Reference Resources
Groom Lake Remains Exempt from Waste Reporting
President Clinton issues an exemption to the Air Force from reporting hazardous waste events at Area 51. From your About.com Guide.Flyin' High at the Paradise Ranch
Area 51, Groom Lake, Dreamland, Nevada Test Site, Nellis Test Range, Paradise Ranch, the Ranch, Watertown Strip, the Box, the Pig Farm...The history of all of those from About.com UFO Guide, Loy Lawhon.Area 51: Enigma of the West
Let Las Vegas Guide, Robert Romano tell you what's really going on out there.U.S. Air Force Net Links
Web resources for learning more about the people, planes and operation of the U.S. Air Force compiled by U.S. Military Guide Rod Powers.Satellite Photos of Area 51 Go Public
CBS News report - April 18, 2000Area 51 Research Center
Looks at both the rumors and facts about the facility.Inside Area 51
The Las Vegas Review-Journal's archive of stories and photographs about Area 51.Citizens Against UFO Secrecy
Group dedicated to proving that the U.S. government has interacted with extraterrestrial governments.
US Government
Job Openings
Links to vacancy announcements at dozens of agencies and military branches.
