"Mom, When Is Santa Coming?"... Santa's Sleigh Ride to Be Broadcast Live Across the Night Sky Again This Christmas

Once again this Christmas, scenes of Santa Claus riding his sleigh with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer across the night sky to deliver gifts to children around the world will be broadcast live in real time.
According to the New York Post and other sources on the 4th, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will track and share Santa's location live on Christmas Eve.
NORAD officially launched the 'NORAD Tracks Santa' website and mobile application on the 1st, allowing real-time tracking of Santa's location. Starting at 6 p.m. KST on the 24th, Santa's flight path will be broadcast live via the website and app.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of NORAD's tradition of tracking Santa's journey and sharing it with children in real time.
The Santa tracking event began in 1955 with a misdialed phone call.
A newspaper in Colorado Springs, USA, published an advertisement for a department store's 'Call Santa' event, but a misprinted phone number led to a flood of calls to the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), NORAD's predecessor.
Harry W. Shoup, an Air Force colonel who answered the emergency 'red phone,' received a call from a child asking, "Are you really Santa?" He replied, "Ho, ho, ho! Yes, I am Santa Claus. Have you been a good child?" thus preserving the magic for the children.
Since then, starting in 1956, CONAD and later NORAD have virtually tracked and shared Santa's journey every Christmas.
NORAD is said to use radar and satellites to track the infrared signals emitted by Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer's glowing red nose.
Santa is expected to take off from the North Pole in a sleigh pulled by several Rudolphs, following the International Date Line south over the Pacific Ocean and then heading west, just as in previous years.
According to NORAD, Santa's sleigh has a takeoff weight equivalent to 75,000 jelly beans, and Santa himself weighs 260 pounds (about 118 kg).
Santa's sleigh can travel faster than starlight and, fueled by hay, oats, and carrots, is capable of carrying up to 60,000 tons of cargo.
newssu@fnnews.com Kim Soo-yeon Reporter