Christmas is here and people round the world are excited about Santa Claus and Christmas presents. But does anyone know where exactly is Santa Claus at present? What if you can track Santa Claus, just like you do while ordering online food? North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is tracking the live status of Santa, so that your wait for Christmas presents gets a timeline. NORAD has been tracking Santa's sleigh since 4 am on Tuesday, right when Santa Claus embarked his flight with his nine reindeer.
His first stops were in eastern Russia and Asia, just in time for Christmas Day there.
Not just NORAD, US space agency NASA is also keeping an eye on Santa’s sleigh.
Those who want to know the exact location status of Santa Claus can track his journey on NORAD's official Santa Tracker, Moreover, you can also call 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) to speak live with NORAD trackers. The group uses infrared sensors to follow the glow of Rudolph's nose, enabling them to pinpoint the location of his sleigh.
"We are proud to carry on the tradition of tracking Santa as he travels along his yuletide flight path," NORAD commander Terrence O'Shaughnessy was quoted by CNN as saying.
What is NORAD?
North American Aerospace Defense Command comes up with an annual Christmas-themed program that starts on December 1. The actual Santa-tracking starts at midnight of December 23. The program is in the tradition of the September 1897 editorial "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" in the New York Sun.
How did Santa tracking begin?
On December 24, 1948, the United States Air Force issued a communique claiming that an "early warning radar net to the north" had detected "one unidentified sleigh, powered by eight reindeer, at 14,000 feet [4,300 meters], heading 180 degrees." The Associated Press passed this "report" along to the general public. It was the first time that the United States Armed Forces issued a statement about tracking Santa Claus's sleigh on Christmas Eve, although it was a one-time event, not repeated over the next several years.
The program originated before the actual formation of NORAD, as an annual event on December 24, 1955. On November 30, the same year, a child trying to reach Santa Claus on a hotline number provided in a Sears advertisement misdialed the number and instead reached Shoup at his desk at CONAD. Shoup responded gruffly to the child and no additional Santa Claus-related calls came in to CONAD.
According to legend, a Sears department store then placed an advertisement in the Colorado Springs newspaper The Gazette, which told children that they could place a call to Santa Claus and included the number ME 2-6681.
In some versions of the story, the calls were coming in to the "red telephone" hotline that connected CONAD directly to command authorities at the Strategic Air Command. Colonel Harry Shoup, who was a Crew Commander on duty, answered the first call and supposedly told his staff to give all children who called in later a "current location" for Santa Claus.
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