Kids can track Santa on Christmas Eve Published Dec. 8, 2010 By 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- For the 55th year in a row, volunteers from the North American Aerospace Defense Command are preparing the Santa tracker. The website, www.santatracker.org went live Dec. 1 and features holiday games and activities, a Christmas countdown and a Santa tracker which begins on Dec. 24, Christmas Eve. This year, children can also use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and TroopTube to track Santa. People can also call 1-877-446-6723 or e-mail noradtrackssanta@gmail.com to ask where Santa is. The website, designed by Booz Allen Hamilton, provides up-to-the-minute reports and streaming videos from key stops on Santa's trip around the world. Google software will output live images from NORAD's high-speed digital "Santa Cams," and Google Maps and Google Earth will follow Santa as he travels around the world. NORAD also uses four radar, satellites and fighter jets to track Santa. According the website, the tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number went to the Continental Air Defense Command. The director of operations at the time, Col. Harry Shoup, 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. NORAD is the bi-national U.S.-Canadian military organization responsible for the aerospace and maritime defense of the United States and Canada. NORAD, created by a 1958 agreement between Canada and the United States, provides advanced warning of impending missile and air attacks against its member nations, safeguards the air sovereignty of North America, and maintains airborne forces for defense against attack. More information on NORAD and Santa can be found at www.santatracker.org.