Elon Musk revives his "5000-year-old alien time traveler" joke in response to 1953 book about Mars leader “Elon”

The internet is spiraling into a frenzy and this time, it’s because of The Mars Project, an old German manuscript from 1953, and Elon Musk. A user on X (formerly Twitter) discovered that this manuscript, penned by rocket science pioneer Wernher von Braun, predicts that the leader of Mars will be called “Elon.”

It all started when user @SpaceSudoer shared an excerpt from the German text. The manuscript contains a reference to “Elon,” as confirmed by German speakers who probably did a double take.

And then the man of the hour himself chimed in stating:

“How can this be real?”

One user (@stillgray on X) joked, “Maybe you’re like a time traveler or something.”

And Musk, being Musk, leaned all the way in, replying with his trademark dry humor:

“No matter how often I tell people that I’m a 5000-year-old alien time traveler, they don’t believe me 😂.”

The idea of Musk casually time-hopping across millennia and plotting Mars domination is probably the least shocking thing about him at this point.

Commenting on the post, a user (@CarlosBtnoCigar) humorously noted:

"Maybe there’s a whole different species out there waiting to be discovered.. Elions 👽"

Another user (@ DerrickEvans4WV on X) mentioned: "I’ve been saying it for years. I truly think you are a time traveler 🤣"

A user (@fishooai on X) declared: "Another proof we are living in a simulation world. Welcome to the Matrix people."

Meanwhile, this user (@blgorman on X) commented: "Please just give us the keys to time travel already. I want to go back to the 80s. Thanks and have a great day!"

A comment (by @KristenMMiller on X) read: "There are no coincidences (well, maybe one freebie, but this is way over the top)."

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What is The Mars Project?

Wernher von Braun, who laid the blueprint for human space exploration, dropped this plotline back in 1948 in his book The Mars Project. It was a technical playbook for interplanetary travel.

So, von Braun imagined an entire governance system for Mars, complete with elections and councils.

And no, this isn’t some internet prank from conspiracy theorists. This is a real thing written in a very serious book.

When von Braun sat down to write The Mars Project, he wasn’t just dreaming about little green men. He meticulously detailed how humans could realistically get to Mars.

Published in 1953, the book is regarded as the most influential book on planning human missions to Mars.

And then, in the middle of this master plan, von Braun mentioned that the Martian society would be run by a democratically elected leader, Elon. An English translation cited by AL.com reads:

“At its head stood a man elected by the general population for five years, whom the Martians called ‘Elon’.”

He also outlined the logistics of the Martian government, including five-year terms for the leader and a council responsible for creating laws.

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Elon Musk has been calling himself an alien

Elon Musk has been claiming he’s a 5,000-year-old time-traveling vampire alien.

This all started when a user (@cb_doge on X) decided to cook up an edited picture of Musk dressed like a vampire in a cloak. The caption read:

“What if Elon Musk is actually a time-traveling vampire alien who’s building Starship to return to his home planet?”

Instead of leaving the internet to spiral on its own, Musk dove in headfirst. He responded with “I mean… yeah ofc.”

The same user then posted a screenshot of Musk’s profile on X. They zoomed in on the part that says his account has been verified since 3,000 BCE.

Musk doubled down with:

“See, this proves that I’m a time-traveling vampire alien!”

“Even though I’m 5,000 years old, I think I look much younger.”

Some users decided to test his claim, asking him to share memes from 5,000 years ago. Elon then posted a meme about the pyramids.

In fact, during an event in Paris, he even threw out:

“I keep telling people I’m an alien, but nobody believes me.”

Though we might never know if Elon Musk is an alien or not, the online discourse debating on it continues to generate chuckles and amusement.