Santa is currently making his Christmas Eve journey. St. Nick took off from the North Pole around 5 a.m. Christmas Eve, making his first stops in Russia before visiting other islands like Fiji, New Zealand, Japan, and even parts of Antarctica.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command first began tracking Santa in 1955 after Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement misprinted the telephone number for children to call Santa.
Instead of Santa, the phone line redirected kids to Colorado Springs’ Continental Air Defense Command, or CONAD.
With a flush of calls from kids, Director of Operations Colonel Harry Shoup told his staff to give all kids who call in an update on Santa’s location. The tradition has continued ever since, with NORAD taking the reigns of the operation after replacing CONAD in 1958.
Santa will not enter the United States until approximately 9 p.m., according to NORAD. He also won’t run into any government hangups during his trip either.
The Department of Agriculture has given permission for Santa to enter at any northern border point starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday. The agency is planning to waive disease-testing requirements typically ordered for those bringing livestock across the border as well, since Santa’s reindeer were proven to be healthy.
NORAD officials said they are able to track Santa because Rudolph’s red nose emits so much heat that its able to be picked up by infrared sensors. NORAD also reports Santa is able to make all his stops because he doesn’t experience time like we do.
