NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) Tracks Santa (St. Nicolas)

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Do you wonder what Santa is up to? The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has the military equipment and technology to find out if St. Nicholas is making tracks.

For the past 60 years NORAD has tracked Santa progress on Christmas Eve and all because of a misprint. In 1955 a Sears and Roebuck, Inc advertisement ran a phone number for children to call and talk to Santa.

Instead of reaching Santa, the children called in the NORAD (former  Continental Air Defense Command- CONAD). Director of Operations Colonel Harry Shoup had his staff check for signs of Santa and children calling in were given periodic updates regarding St. Nick's location.

Keep track of Santa! 
In 1958 the Canadian and United States governments created a new bi-national air defense command for North American, renamed from CONAD to the current NORAD. The new organization continued the tradition of tracking Santa for youngsters.

For anyone that is concerned about government funds being used to track Santa, NORAD TRACKS SANTA is staffed by NORAD volunteers who personally respond to emails and phone calls from children around the world and funds are raised through donation and sponsorship.

In preparation of Santa's Christmas Eve trip,  the NORAD Tracks Santa site goes live on December 1st with games, videos, coloring pages and other Santa related information.

NORAD TRACKS SANTA uses its radar North Warning System, 47 installations across Canada's North and Alaska. This is the same system tat provides warnings of any possible missile strikes aimed at North America.

Keep checking back because on December 24 all systems go live and the NORAD Tracks Santa website is using all the government intel to keep the little man in red in our sights. Enjoy!


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