The Colorado Springs-based North American Aerospace Defense Command has mobilized to track Santa Claus and his nine reindeer today.
NORAD has activated its NORAD Tracks Santa website at , which last year drew 10.6 million unique visitors from 212 countries.
Earlier this month, NORAD, Santa and the reindeer conducted a test in which Santa and his team flew from the North Pole to Pueblo, according to NORAD officials.
“The test flight included Santa’s journey into Pueblo and confirmed NORAD’s ability to track the jolly old elf and his team of reindeer using a variety of land and space assets,” Maj. Stacia Reddish, manager of NORAD Tracks Santa program, said in a statement.
“The test was a phenomenal success,” said Reddish.
NORAD said that its Santa-tracking program has grown to become the largest operation of its kind in the world, including SantaCams.
Hundreds of volunteers are staffing phone lines at NORAD today and tonight. Call 877-446-6723 or 719-556-5211 for a live update on Santa’s whereabouts. Get an e-mail update from noradtrackssanta@gmail.com/.
According to the NORAD website, the Santa-tracking tradition began in 1955 when a Colorado Springs-based Sears advertisement gave a phone number for children to call Santa. But there was a misprint in the ad, and instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to NORAD’s predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command.
The director of operations at the time, Col. Harry Shoup, had his staff “check radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole,” the website explains. “Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition was born.”
