NORAD Launches Santa Tracker Site, App

Ho ho ho—it’s that time of year again, and though Christmas Day is a still a few weeks away, the folks at NORAD have launched their wildly popular Santa Claus tracker apps and website, giving children (big and small) a chance to play games, watch movies and countdown to Santa’s departure from the North Pole.

Then, on Christmas Eve, they can track his up-to-the-minute progress as Santa and the reindeer embark on their world tour.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command's Santa Tracker website launched December 1 and features a new game every day. Santa and his elves (aka NORAD personnel) have gone all high tech, and the effort has its own official @NoradSanta Twitter account. 

It all started in 1955 after a Sears Roebuck and Company advertisement misprinted the telephone number for children to call Santa. The numbers instead dialed into the commander-in-chief’s operations hotline at the Continental Air Defense Command, NORAD’s predecessor. When children called in, a good-spirited Col. Harry Shoup, the director of operations at the time, asked the staff to check the radars for Santa and report the sightings to eager callers. The tradition took off.