Santa Claus (Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, Père Noël, or Papa Noel) is busy delivering presents to children worldwide. It is nice to know that the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracks his every move and knows exactly when he enters North American airspace. They do this using a globally integrated system of radar and satellites that tracks everything that flies in and around the United States.
Every year on December 24, the tracking specialists have a special task of tracking Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph as they leave their North Pole home to deliver presents around the world.
On this special night, children go to bed early, leaving a glass of milk and cookies for Santa, hoping that they have been good enough throughout the year to warrant getting all the gifts they have asked for.
It all started by accident
Unlike many of the missions NORAD performs each day, the tracking of Santa Claus happened by accident after a young boy accidentally called them while trying to get in touch with Santa Claus. The year was 1955 when a young boy saw a misprinted phone number for Santa Claus in a department store ad and inadvertently called the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Operations Center in Colorado Springs.
The commander on duty that night was Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup, who, when he answered the young boy’s call, quickly realized that the child thought he was speaking with Santa Claus. After more calls started coming in, Shoup assigned a duty officer to continue answering them. This, in turn, became a yearly tradition that continued when NORAD came into existence in 1958.
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Millions of children track the location of Santa Claus
Each year since then, on December 24, NORAD has reported the location of Santa Claus to millions of children around the world thanks to the United States military and corporate contributors. The entire mission has now, after 65 years, been recognized as one of the Department of Defense’s most extensive community outreach programs.
Every Christmas Eve, NORAD’s website receives millions of unique visitors from around the world eager to see where Santa Claus is on his journey and when the white-bearded red-suited man would arrive at their house. As well as the website, volunteers operating the telephones answer more than 130,000 calls on the NORAD track Santa Claus hotline.
In a statement about their ability to track Santa Claus, NORAD says it is also possible to follow his journey from the North Pole by using its mobile app or on social media. If you want to see where Santa Claus is right now you can find out by clicking on the link.
About NORAD
Set up during the Cold War, NORAD was an early warning center designed to detect incoming ballistic missiles from what was then the Soviet Union. Manned by American and Canadian military personnel, NORAD monitors North American airspace 24/7, 365 days a year.
#Santa is flying over the headquarters of North American Aerospace Defense Command in Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado. Did you know NORAD has been tracking Santa for 66 years?https://t.co/fVNNmYTAuu pic.twitter.com/wMtW9BCzgI
— NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) December 25, 2021
The NORAD early warning complex is located deep within Cheyanne Mountain in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Occupying around five acres, the complex is 2,000 feet below the mountain. Designed to withstand a nuclear blast, the facility is self-sufficient and has between 350 and 500 people working there every day.
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