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PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. — It’s that time of the year again and North American Aerospace Defense Command officials are getting ready to track Santa Claus.
The NORAD Tracks Santa Web site, www.noradsanta.org, is now live and features fun holiday games and activities that change daily.
The Web site is available in seven languages, and on Dec. 24 will stream videos captured by NORAD “Santa Cams” from numerous cities along Santa’s journey.
This year, children and the young-at-heart will be able to track Santa through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and TroopTube.mil. To follow any of these Web sites, type in “@noradsanta” into the search engine and start tracking.
New this year, OnStar is partnering with NORAD to provide OnStar subscribers with live Santa updates as they travel in their vehicles on Christmas Eve. Subscribers can simply push the blue OnStar button to get status reports on Santa’s
whereabouts. Also new and beginning at 12 a.m. MST Dec. 24, visitors to the Web site can watch Santa as he prepares his sleigh, checks his list and goes through all his preparations to ensure he has a successful journey.
As soon as Santa takes off from the North Pole, children can also track him with up-to-the-minute Google Maps and Google Earth reports.
Santa trackers will begin answering phones and replying to e-mail at
4 a.m. MST (6 a.m. EST) on Christmas Eve. Children of all ages can call the NTS toll-free number 877-Hi-NORAD (877-446-6723) or send an e-mail to noradtrackssanta@gmail.com. The NTS program is carried out with the assistance of many corporate partners.
Booz Allen Hamilton has designed the NTS Web site. Other sponsors helping with the event include Verizon, who donates the toll-free number, Time Warner, Avaya and PCI provide communications engineering, while OnStar, 5 Star Bank, Pepsi Distributing and First Choice Awards and Gifts keep the trackers happy with food, beverages and souvenir tracking pins.
The NTS program began on Dec. 24, 1955, after a phone call was made to the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The call was from a local child who dialed a misprinted telephone number in a local newspaper advertisement. The commander at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, Colo., who answered the phone that night gave the child the information requested – the whereabouts of Santa. This began the tradition of tracking Santa, a tradition that was carried on by NORAD when it was formed in 1958.
The NTS program has grown immensely since first presented on the Internet in 1998. The Web site receives millions of unique visitors from hundreds of countries and territories around the world. In addition, the NTS Operations Center will be occupied for 25 hours with more than 1,200 volunteers on Christmas Eve, who will be receiving hundreds of thousands phone calls and e-mails from families around the world.
