Area 51 Palmdale facility. A search for a suitable testing site for the U-2 was conducted under the same extreme security as the rest of the project. He notified Lockheed, who sent an inspection team out to Groom Lake. According to Lockheed's U-2 designer Kelly Johnson: The lakebed made an ideal strip from which they could test aircraft, and the Emigrant Valley's mountain ranges and the NTS perimeter, about north of Las Vegas, protected the test site from visitors. The CIA asked the AEC to acquire the land, designated "Area 51" on the map, and add it to the Nevada Test Site.
Area 51 (film) Area 51 (film) Area 51 is a 2015 American found footage science fiction horror film directed and shot by Oren Peli and co-written by Peli and Christopher Denham. The film stars Reid Warner, Darrin Bragg, Ben Rovner, and Jelena Nik. The film was released in a limited release and through video on demand on May 15, 2015 by Paramount Insurge. Reid, Darrin, and Ben are three close friends who are avid conspiracy theorists. Reid’s fascination with extraterrestrial activity is further enkindled when he inexplicably vanishes during the middle of a party and has no memory of his disappearance. He spends