This Christmas season marks seven decades of the North American Aerospace Defense Command tracking Santa Claus on radar as he flies his reindeer-powered sleigh around the globe.
"NORAD tracks Santa, but only Santa knows his route, which means we cannot predict where and when he will arrive at your house," said a senior NORAD official.
Fighter pilots have intercepted Santa many times over the years. When they do, the pilots tip their wings in greetings and often take photos, the official said.
NORAD has Santa cams in space that take video of him flying. These videos appear online almost every hour on Christmas Eve.
NORAD's Santa Operations Center is fully functional beginning Dec. 24 at 4 a.m. MST. Children can call 877-446-6723 to talk directly to a Santa tracker, who will be able to tell callers his current location. Operators are available until midnight.
More than 1,000 Canadian and American uniformed personnel, War Department civilians and local participants at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where NORAD is located, volunteer their time Christmas Eve to answer the hundreds of thousands of phone calls that come in from around the world.
Santa is currently at the North Pole where he lives with Mrs. Claus and the elves, who make toys and take care of the reindeer year-round. Each year on Dec. 24, Santa Claus and his reindeer launch from the North Pole very early in the morning for their famous trip around the world.
The minute they launch, NORAD starts to track him, the official said.
Besides tracking Santa, NORAD is responsible for aerospace and maritime warning in defense of North America. The organization is jointly run by the U.S. and Canadian militaries.
NORAD's predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command, began tracking Santa in 1955. NORAD took over in 1958.