NORAD officially launched its annual Santa tracker at 6 a.m. EST on Christmas Eve, marking the 70th anniversary of a tradition that now utilizes satellite sensors and AI. The program originated in 1955 when Harry Shoup answered a misdialed call from a child attempting to reach a department store and decided to provide flight updates. This year, the operation includes commercial partners like
Google and
Flightradar24 to manage over 380,000 calls and millions of website visitors from 200 countries.
Published: 4h | Updated: 1h