Skip to content
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Menu
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Happy News

This Is How NORAD Santa Tracker Started

In 1955, Sears Roebuck & Co. ran a newspaper advertisement in Colorado Springs with a phone number children could call to speak with Santa, but a printing error connected eager kids not to the North Pole but to the red phone on the desk of Continental Air Defense Command director Col. Harry Shoup, a line so important that only a four-star general at the Pentagon and Shoup had the number. When the phone rang that December and a small voice asked for Santa, Shoup was initially annoyed but chose to play along rather than disappoint the child, and as more calls flooded in throughout the night, he staffed the line with airmen to answer for Santa and even added Santa’s sleigh to the glass tracking board used to monitor flights over the United States. Shoup called local radio stations declaring they had an unidentified flying object that looked like a sleigh, with stations calling back every hour asking for Santa’s location, inadvertently launching what would become a cherished global tradition. His daughter Terri Van Keuren recalls her father receiving letters from all over the world thanking him for having a sense of humor and starting something so magical, with the family sharing the heartwarming origin story with StoryCorps decades later.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command took over responsibility for tracking Santa in 1958 when it was formed, and the tradition has grown more technologically advanced and popular every year since. Today, NORAD uses its powerful 47-installation North Warning System radar across Alaska and northern Canada, globally integrated satellites with infrared sensors that detect Rudolph’s glowing nose, and F-15, F-16, F-22, and Canadian CF-18 fighter jets that escort Santa safely through North American airspace. More than 500 uniformed personnel, Defense Department civilians, their families and supporters volunteer their time on Christmas Eve to answer children’s questions, with the operation now reaching millions through NORADSanta.org, mobile apps, social media, Amazon Alexa, and the traditional phone line at 1-877-Hi-NORAD. In 2020 alone, the website received more than 11 million visitors from over 200 countries and territories, volunteers answered more than 20,000 calls, and millions more tracked Santa through various digital platforms, proving that one accidental phone call 70 years ago created something truly special that continues bringing holiday magic to families worldwide.

PrevPreviousThe Grinch Is Getting Arrested Everywhere
NextHow The Military Tracks SantaNext

Recent Articles

Happy News

Communities Across America Are Banning AI Data Centers And The Number Just Jumped From 8 To 78

May 10, 2026

According to the U.S. Data Center Moratorium Tracker, communities across the country have been pushing back against the rapid expansion of AI data centers with growing success, with the number of active bans and moratoriums jumping from just 8 in May 2025 to 78 today, including 50 active restrictions and

Read More
Happy News

An Alaska Animal Shelter Lets You Borrow A Dog For 48 Hours And It Is Leading To More Adoptions

May 10, 2026

The Anchorage Animal Care and Control shelter in Alaska launched a program in spring 2025 called Tails on Trails that has since become one of the most talked-about shelter initiatives in the country, pairing volunteers with a shelter dog for 48 hours and sending them out to explore the trails

Read More
Happy News

Scientists Gave Monkeys A Reward-Free Video Game And They Played Nearly 100 Rounds Anyway

May 10, 2026

Researchers at Kyoto University’s Institute for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior set out to test whether curiosity in Japanese macaques follows the same pattern observed in humans, and what they found should resonate with anyone who has ever gone down a late-night internet rabbit hole for no practical reason

Read More
« Previous Next »
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2026 HappyNews.