NORAD Continues Tradition of Tracking Santa on Christmas Eve

NORAD Continues Tradition of Tracking Santa on Christmas Eve

VoM News Desk | December 25, 2023 | 11:51 AM IST | Breaking News, Canada, United States of America, World | Follow on Google News

NORAD Continues Tradition of Tracking Santa on Christmas Eve/AFP

NORAD Continues Tradition of Tracking Santa on Christmas Eve

The joint US-Canadian military monitoring agency, NORAD, kept up its annual Christmas Eve tradition this year by tracking Santa Claus’s global journey, offering children a chance to follow his reindeer-driven sleigh as it delivered presents around the world.

Through an interactive 3-D website, www.noradsanta.org, NORAD showcased Santa and his reindeer’s fictional global route, allowing users to click and explore various cities along the way.

This tradition dates back to 1955 when a Colorado newspaper misprinted a phone number intended for connecting children with Santa, accidentally routing them to the military nerve center hotline. To avoid disappointment, Colonel Harry Shoup directed his team to track Santa’s location on radar and update the children.

While NORAD primarily conducts aerospace and maritime operations, including monitoring missile launches, the agency continues this 68-year-old tradition, establishing a temporary call center at its Colorado headquarters to answer children’s inquiries.

Even top-level US officials like President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden participated in the tradition, engaging with children through the Santa tracking calls organized by NORAD.

Despite a brief technical glitch that affected the tracker in the Pacific region, NORAD swiftly resolved the issue, assuring followers that Santa was still on the move. The journey began with an extraordinary stop at the International Space Station, followed by visits across various countries, including Israel, Gaza, Africa, Antarctica’s Palmer Station, and South America.

As of 10:00 pm local time, Santa and his reindeer entered US airspace near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, continuing their delivery spree, estimated at around 100,000 gifts per second, totaling nearly 5.5 billion gifts delivered worldwide.

VoM News Desk

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