The US military tracks Santa Claus on Christmas Eve

“Santa Claus has officially departed from the North Pole,” the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) announced on Facebook at 6 a.m. today (6 p.m. Hanoi time).

NORAD livestreams Santa’s journey with graphic images on the agency’s website and accounts on several social media platforms. Information on the website shows that he distributed more than a billion gifts in the first three hours.

Theo CBS NewsSanta typically travels along the International Date Line in the Pacific, then moves west with first stops in the South Pacific, New Zealand and Australia. He then zigzagged through Asia, Africa and Europe before crossing the Atlantic to Canada, the US, Mexico, Central and South America and returning to the North Pole.

Experts at NORAD said Santa Claus usually stops to deliver gifts from 9:00 p.m. to midnight, and noted that tracking devices cannot predict exactly where and when he will arrive.

“Only Santa Claus knows his route,” NORAD announced. “However, based on history, we know he only comes when the children are asleep.”

NORAD began the tradition of “tracking” Santa Claus in 1955 after a child mistakenly called the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center (CONAD), NORAD’s predecessor, and asked Colonel Harry Shoup if he was Santa Claus.

Colonel Shoup answered no, but said the command he was in charge of was tracking a person wearing a red suit flying. Shoup then told the employees under his command to answer incoming calls that they were tracking Santa Claus.