BOSTON – Santa Claus is taking flight Tuesday night on Christmas Eve, and children around New England and the world will be watching thanks to the North American Aerospace Defense Command — known as NORAD .
How to track Santa with NORAD
The organization provides several ways to monitor Santa’s Christmas Eve journey. Children can call 1 (877) HI-NORAD, can track him using the NORAD mobile apps, or can visit noradsanta.org for an interactive tracker .
NORAD’s David Kang spoke to WBZ-TV’s Jacob Wycoff last year on Christmas Eve. Kang explained how the annual tradition started with a simple mistake.
“It was by happenstance that we tracked Santa,” Kang said. “We got a call from a young girl who misdialed and got our operations center at NORAD. As a result one of the colonels on the battle staff picked up the phone and started to indulge as Santa. And as a result, we’ve been tracking Santa for about 68 years.”