NORAD Keeping Tabs On Santa's Flight
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PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (CBSMiami) – For the 61st year, the North American Aerospace Defense Command is keeping tabs on Santa's yuletide journey around the world.
The so-called Santa Tracker's hub is at Colorado's Peterson Air Force base, where hundreds of volunteers will be answering calls from an estimated 125,000 children around the globe looking for Santa's whereabouts.
The public can also track Ol' Saint Nick on the Santa Tracker website, www.noradsanta.org, which also features Santa's North Pole Village, with a holiday countdown, games, activities, and more.
The website is available in eight languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Chinese.
Official NORAD Tracks Santa apps are also available in the Windows, Apple and Google Play stores.
NORAD's "Santa Cams" stream videos as Santa makes his way over various locations. Then, at 6 a.m. trackers worldwide can speak with a live phone operator to inquire as to Santa's whereabouts by dialing the toll-free number 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) or by sending an email to noradtrackssanta@outlook.com.
Any time on Dec. 24, Windows Phone users can ask Cortana for Santa's location, and OnStar subscribers can press the OnStar button in their vehicles to locate Santa.
NORAD Tracks Santa has delighted generations of families all over the world!
It all started in 1955 when a local newspaper ad for Sears Roebuck and Co. listed a phone number for children to call Santa direct – only the number was misprinted. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone rang through to the Crew Commander on duty at the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center, NORAD's predecessor.
Air Force Col. Harry Shoup took the first call from a child and thought he was being pranked. When he figured out he was talking to a little boy, he pretended he was Santa. More children called. Shoup eventually instructed airmen answering the phone to offer Santa's radar location as he crossed the globe. Thus began the tradition, which NORAD carried on since it was created in 1958.
