NORAD’s still at it tracking Santa’s trip

Volunteers take calls from children asking where Santa is and when he will deliver presents to their house for the NORAD Tracks Santa Operation at the North American Aerospace Defense Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2024. NORAD via AP

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The Associated Press

PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. — Sometimes kids drop the phone after hearing Santa won’t show up if they’re not asleep. Others who call the NORAD Tracks Santa hotline wonder if St. Nick will be able to find them.

Adults who also remain devoted to the jolly figure said to deliver presents around the world are checking up on his journey. For 70 years, that’s been the tradition at the North American Aerospace Defense Command — a joint United States and Canadian operation charged with monitoring the skies for threats since the Cold War.

More than 1,000 volunteers will be taking calls to 877-HI-NORAD on Christmas Eve from 3 a.m. to 11 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. For the first time this year, Santa seekers can place a call through the program’s website, which organizers say will be easier for people outside North America.

The website allows people to follow Santa’s journey in nine languages, including English and Japanese.

Last year, about 380,000 calls came into a hangar festooned with Christmas decorations at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs — the home of NORAD.

While Santa is no threat, the same combination of radar, satellites and jets that help NORAD carry out its mission throughout the year make it capable of tracking the progress of Santa starting from the international date line over the Pacific Ocean, said Col. Kelly Frushour, a NORAD spokesperson.

Rudolph the reindeer’s nose gives off a heat signature similar to a missile that is picked up by NORAD’s satellites, she said.

Last year, Frushour said one girl was upset after hearing Santa was on his way to the International Space Station, where two astronauts were stranded.

“Thankfully, by the time the call was over, Santa Claus had moved on to another destination and the child was reassured that Santa was not trapped in space and was going to make it to her house later that evening,” Frushour said.

A special-needs man named Henry who calls every year once asked if the jet pilot escorting Santa through North America could put a note in the plane letting Santa know he was in bed and ready for him to come, said Michelle Martin, a NORAD staffer and Marine veteran.