NORAD prepares for another year of tracking Santa’s sleigh on Christmas Eve

The North American Aerospace Defense Command is preparing for its traditional tracking of Santa Claus’ sleigh on Christmas Eve. 

NORAD has tracked the Dec. 24 flight since 1955, when a child accidentally called an operations center for an agency that predated the command, believing she was calling Santa Claus. The on-duty commander that night guaranteed the child Santa would have a safe journey from the North Pole and a tradition was established. The annual tracking carried over when the precursor agency became NORAD in 1959. Since 1997, the tracker has been available online. 

This year, the command will launch its “NORAD Tracks Santa” website on Dec. 1. The site will feature a holiday countdown, games and movies, holiday music, and more in “Santa’s North Pole Village.” There will also be a downloadable app for cell phones and other devices. 

On Dec. 24, the command will start tracking Santa’s journey around the world from 4 a.m. to midnight Mountain Standard Time. Callers can dial 1-877-HI-NORAD to ask live operators about Santa’s location from 6 a.m. to midnight MST. 

Preparing to follow Santa’s journey 

While the agency spends fewer than 24 hours tracking Santa, it takes months of preparations to get everything in place. The operation is supported by the efforts of more than a thousand volunteers, CBS News previously reported.

Organizers first review the previous year’s tracking and reconnect with the dozens of corporate contributors who fund the program annually. In the fall, they start coordinating with service members at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs to transform the building into the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center. 

On Christmas Eve, volunteers answer phone calls from people around the world, while members of the Colorado Springs community bring food for those working. In 2022, the program answered 260,000 calls around the world, CBS News previously reported. 

“When they still call us and find out it’s real people, they’re very surprised,” Col. Elizabeth Mathias, U.S. Northern Command public affairs director told CBS News in 2023. “I’ve had callers literally go speechless because they weren’t expecting to talk to someone.”