NORAD team in Colorado Springs already working on Santa Tracker
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - The NORAD Santa Tracker is a year-long mission at the Peterson Space Force base as team members are already working to prepare the program and call center for Christmas 2025.
"There's so much behind the scenes going on to prepare for NORAD Track Santa," said United States Air Force Captain Sean Carter. "We take it as serious as we do the rest of the missions because it is outreach."
Carter is a Colorado Springs native and said they work on a monthly basis starting in January to work with network providers, conduct planning meetings and set up the hangar and call center.
It's a global effort, and its renown is widespread.
"Whenever I told my friends and my family that I was going to move to the Springs, the first thing they told me was, 'Oh my God, you're going to track Santa Claus!" said Royal Canadian Air Force Captain and Quebec native Rebecca Garand.
Carter and Garand said they prep so hard and so long because they understand the impact the Santa Tracker has on an international scale.
"A couple years back, we had a call from a group of kids in Ukraine who were using an electric-charged hand phone to get a hold of us and say, 'Hey, can we have Santa turn the power back on here?'" Carter said. "As fun and lighthearted as it is, we have these moments here in the call center where we all just take this knee, and remember what it is we're doing this for."
While the website won't be active until December 1, the NORAD team will continue to work on the project all year long in preparation of the launch.