In the series “Only in America” we bring to you some interesting aspects of life in the US. Where else does the Aerospace Defence Command track Santa Claus!
NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) tracks the path of Santa throughout the world. With their satellite systems, radars, fighter jets and other resources they have now been tracking Santa for over 50 years. It all started with an accidental printing of the Aerospace command’s phone number in a Sears ad. The ad promised a phone number which would tell the kids about Santa’s travel plans. When the phone started ringing, the commanding officer decided not to disappoint the children and directed staff to answer phone calls. In 2008, volunteers used 100 phones and 25 computers to handle 69,845 calls and 6,086 e-mails from more than 200 countries.
Few years later the Command was replaced by a joint US-Canada project but the tradition continues. Thousands of volunteers now help answer phone calls alongwith NORAD employees. With the changing times, as you might expect, now the project has its own facebook and twitter pages that publish Santa’s latest whereabouts.
A few hours ago, Santa was spotted in some of the cities thousands of app2us.com users call home – Mumbal, Shanghai, Kolkata and Dhaka. One of the cities Santa visits every year is Agra – this video was shot over Taj Mahal earlier today. For more information about NORAD Tracks Santa, visit www.noradsanta.org. The phone number is 877-HI-NORAD (877-446-6723).
Reference:
Wikipedia
