Track Santa's annual flight online

Track Santa's annual flight online




News partner NBC 6

December 23, 2005, 10:48 AM EST



When Christmas Eve comes, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), will track Santa Claus during his annual flight.

NORAD is responsible for handling the air defense of the North America continent. But it has also been tracking Santa's movements on Christmas Eve for the past 50 years.

NORAD uses four high-tech systems to track Santa -- radar, satellites, Santa Cams and jet fighter aircraft.

The satellites have infrared sensors, meaning they can see heat. Rudolph's nose gives off an infrared signature similar to a missile launch. Thus, the satellites can detect Rudolph's bright red nose with practically no problem.

The tradition of tracking Santa began in 1955, when a local Sears, Roebuck and Co. store ran a newspaper ad urging children to make a phone call on Christmas Eve and talk to Santa Claus. As fate would have it, the phone number was misprinted and, instead of reaching Santa, youngsters found themselves talking with Air Force Col. Harry Shoup of the Continental Air Defense Command at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado.

Rather than hanging up, Shoup and his troops answered every child's call that night with a report of Santa's location. CONAD personnel kept up the practice until 1958, when NORAD was formed and took over Santa-tracking duties.

"We think of it as a geography lesson, because the different places that Santa visits or sightings that we have, a lot of people haven't heard of," said Air Force Master Sgt. John Tomassi, co-director of Santa-tracking operations. "If we can get some children to go and look at a map to find out where Timbuktu is, or where India is, or Pakistan, or wherever, then we feel all the better for that."

Last Christmas Eve, volunteers at Cheyenne Mountain answered nearly 55,000 phone calls and 35,000 e-mails from children around the world. This year, about 500 volunteers -- most of them U.S. and Canadian military personnel and their families -- will report for telephone-answering duty on Christmas Eve. But already, youngsters are sending messages to Santa via the NORAD Tracks Santa Web site.

"E-mails are arriving from India and Ireland and all over the world already from children with their wish lists who want to talk to Santa," Tomassi said. "We receive, on average, 200 e-mails a day."

NORAD Tracks Santa volunteers will answer calls from 2 a. m. MST Dec. 24 to 2 a. m. MST Dec. 25 at 877-Hi-NORAD. You can send also Santa an e-mail at NorthPole@OfficialSantaMail.com
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