NORAD celebrates 70 years of tracking Santa's sleigh

"Seventy years ago, a child phoned the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) looking for Santa Claus - and found him, or at least some kindly military personnel who were willing to play along by helping the youngster to track Santa's location as he zipped around the globe. As the story goes, a Sears Roebuck ad included a phone number for children to call, but that number was wrong. Instead of reaching the retailer's Christmas line, it included the unlisted number for NORAD command."

""NORAD has successfully tracked Santa since 1955 using three tools we use every day in defense of North America," an agency spokesperson told The Register. "A network of ground-based radars called the North Warning System, infrared sensors on satellites more than 22,000 miles above the Earth, and, of course, our NORAD fighter jets comprised of U.S. F-16s, F-15s, F-22s and F-35s, and Canadian CF-18s.""

"When the first child called, Colonel Harry Shoup reportedly decided to roll with the unexpected Christmas Eve surprise and told staff to check NORAD radar systems for Santa's location. He offered the same response to other young callers throughout the night. When NORAD isn't tracking Santa, it handles aerospace warning and control for defense of the US and Canada, including warnings about unknown objects - like flying sleighs - plus potentially threatening missiles and aircraft."

NORAD's Santa-tracking tradition began in 1955 after an incorrect Sears Roebuck phone number connected a child to what was then CONAD. Colonel Harry Shoup instructed staff to check radar and respond to callers, initiating an annual practice that has continued for seventy years. NORAD now advertises a Santa Tracker and credits three primary defense systems—ground-based North Warning System radars, high-altitude infrared satellites, and NORAD/U.S. and Canadian fighter jets—for tracking Santa. The organization performs those same aerospace warning and control missions to detect unknown objects and potential threats to the United States and Canada.

Read at Theregister