It’s a great online game for kids of all ages. Did you know you can use the Santa Tracker with Norad? Watch the Big Man fly on his journey around the world, delivering presents.
It’s a fantastic tradition, borne out of the internet age. And it’s FREE and can be enjoyed by anyone, anywhere, who has internet access.
Santa tracker with Norad is LIVE throughout Christmas Eve. But there are games and things to explore on the website throughout the year.
What is NORAD?
NORAD is the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
It’s a joint United States and Canada organisation. Their normal job is to provide aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning for North America.
Aerospace warning includes the “monitoring of man-made objects in space, and the detection, validation, and warning of attack against North America whether by aircraft, missiles, or space vehicles, through mutual support arrangements with other commands.”
So obviously Santa is something they will pick up on their radar!
Loads of Festive Fun
Obviously Santa sets off on his journey at the first place in the world to hit the stroke of midnight on 24 December. But did you know that one of the first places in the world to see sunrise on Christmas day is the perfectly named Christmas Island (or Kiritimati) in New Zealand? It sees the big day arrive a whopping 14 hours ahead of the UK!
By contrast, parts of Hawaii will have the longest to wait before they get to celebrate Christmas. It has a 10-hour time difference to the UK.
While you’re waiting for the big day to arrive there’s loads of entertainment to keep you occupied on the Santa tracking website. Listen to music, play games and watch the countdown clock as it ticks round to his journey beginning!
How Santa Tracker Began…
NORAD Tracks Santa® started in 1955 as a telephone line. Of course that was in the days before the internet!
Did you know? It all began because of an advert placed by Sears Roebuck & Co. in Colorado Springs. They misprinted the telephone number for children to call Santa.
Instead of ringing the department store, it connected to the Continental Air Defense Command. Children went straight through to the Commander-in-Chief’s operations “hotline”!!
A new tradition is born…
Fortunately the Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, was obviously a friendly chap. He didn’t get mad at the mistake, but had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole.
Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition was born.
It’s funded entirely through donations from corporate sponsors. All of the computer servers, website design, video imaging, Santa’s tracking map, and telephone services are donated.
It comes to us all around the world from the Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado.
Merry Christmas, ho, ho, ho!!
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