What Was Storm Space 51? The True Story Behind Netflix’s ‘Trainwreck’

Storm Space 51 may be probably the most costly jokes in American historical past.

One late night time in June 2019, Matty Roberts, a 20-year-old from Bakersville, Calif., created a Fb occasion, which he referred to as the “final sh—post.” The web page, titled “Storm Space 51, They Can’t Cease All of Us,” went on to turn out to be a viral phenomenon and is the newest topic of Netflix’s Trainwreck docuseries, which debuted on the streamer on July 29.

“What if each idiot on the web converged on Space 51. What would they do? Shoot everybody? It simply appeared like a hilarious concept to me,” Roberts stated within the two-part documentary, Trainwreck: Storm Space 51. “Jokes are funnier after they’re edgy, so I’d make it sound like an actual name to arms. I simply thought it will be a humorous submit for my web page of 40 followers.”

Nonetheless, the submit reached far past his followers, and wound up taking the web by storm. The occasion not solely caught the eye of alien lovers, memers and content material creators, but in addition the USA authorities, late-night exhibits and celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Lizzo.

So what was Storm Space 51? This is the true story behind Netflix’s Trainwreck: Storm Space 51.

Who created Storm Space 51?

Storm Space 51 was created by Roberts. Sooner or later, whereas he was “bored to tears” working at a vape kiosk, Roberts stumbled upon an episode of the Joe Rogan Expertise podcast, the place Space 51 was being mentioned.

That night time, Roberts created the “Storm Space 51, They Can’t Cease All of Us” Fb occasion.

The subsequent morning, over 1,000 individuals had RSVPed as “Going.” Inside days, practically a million individuals expressed curiosity, per Vox. Finally, greater than two million individuals marked themselves as attending the occasion.

When was Storm Space 51?

The occasion at Space 51 was scheduled to happen on Sept. 20, 2019, at 3 a.m.

Did the navy become involved in Storm Space 51?

Forward of the occasion date, the FBI paid a go to to Roberts’ residence, as he recalled within the docuseries.

“I’m simply sitting there shaking, pondering I’m about to get a bag over my head and thrown right into a van and shipped off to God-knows-where,” Roberts stated. “They usually’re grilling me about my social life, my backstory, what sort of non secular beliefs I maintain. Like simply to really feel out whether or not or not I’m really a terrorist.”

Roberts defined to the FBI that he was not really planning on storming Space 51. Nonetheless, he claimed that the FBI instructed him that it was his “a– if anyone determined to go in there and storm” the bottom.

Following the assembly, Roberts stated he wished to determine a method to distance himself from Storm Space 51 and “rebrand” it with the intention to keep away from punishment.

The U.S. navy additionally reacted to Roberts’ Fb occasion, with Air Pressure spokeswoman Laura McAndrews telling USA Immediately in an announcement, “The Nevada Take a look at and Coaching Vary is an space the place the Air Pressure checks and trains fight plane,” including, “Any try to illegally entry navy installations or navy coaching areas is harmful.”

Within the Netflix documentary, Colonel Cavan Craddock famous that the safety forces who guard the Nevada Take a look at and Coaching Vary are “very, superb at their job” and that they “rose their proper hand and stated they’d swear to guard the structure in opposition to all enemies, overseas and home.”

“If it takes use of power, they’re approved so as to take action,” he continued.

What was Alienstock?

As soon as the Fb occasion took off, Roberts determined to host a reliable Space 51 occasion — referred to as “Alienstock” — in Rachel, Nev., a small city near Space 51, with the assistance of native residents.

Nonetheless, days earlier than the competition, Roberts determined he would as a substitute headline an “Space 51 Celebration” in downtown Las Vegas, per TIME. The occasion was a one-night live performance and occasion on the Downtown Las Vegas Occasions Middle and was sponsored by Bud Mild.

Finally, a couple of thousand individuals confirmed as much as Rachel’s “Alien-Inventory,” per the Las Vegas Assessment-Journal, which had by then modified its title as a result of a authorized dispute with Roberts, per Vox. He instructed TIME that he determined to tug out of the occasion after a dispute over safety, sanitation, medical personnel and insurance coverage permits.

Ten thousand individuals attended the Space 51 Celebration occasion in Las Vegas, based on organizers.

Did individuals really storm Space 51?

On Sept. 20, 2019, round 100 people went to the best-known Space 51 gate at 3 a.m., however didn’t break into the air power base, per CBS Information.

“It was a joke. They obtained their second of fame,” Lincoln County Sheriff Kerry Lee stated in Trainwreck: Storm Space 51. “They obtained their image, and it was achieved.”

How a lot did Storm Space 51 price the U.S. navy?

Colonel Craddock revealed within the documentary that the U.S. navy recruited extra manpower, automobiles and weapons to make sure that they might “cope with a number of issues occurring,” in the course of the so-called storming occasion, calling it “by far the biggest protection of the bottom that has ever occurred on the set up.”

In accordance with Trainwreck: Storm Space 51, the viral joke price the U.S. navy an estimated $11 million.

“You’ll be able to simply say, effectively we should not have achieved it. We should always not have wasted these assets,” Craddock stated. “My argument might be that there have been too broad a spread of prospects with the worst-case situation being a mass casualty occasion. And I’ll defend to the ultimate day that we didn’t overspend in our preparation for it.”

The place is Matty Roberts now?

On the finish of the day, Roberts stated he made $1,700 from promoting Storm Space 51 T-shirts on the Space 51 Celebration.

Finally, he went again to his job at a Bakersville vape kiosk.

“I’ve simply gone by way of essentially the most surreal and thrilling second of my life, after which one week later, I am again on the clock on the vape store,” he stated within the docuseries.