Santa Claus is coming to town…track his flight with Certified Space Technology!

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Dec. 13, 2007) — The Space Foundation is proud to recognize the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) Tracks Santa Program as a Certified Space Imagination Product. NORAD uses four high-tech systems to track Santa: radar, satellites, “Santa Cams,” and jet fighter aircraft.

To track Santa, click on the “Track Santa With Norad” link on the Space Foundation’s home page or visit www.noradsanta.org. The site also contains a variety of interactive features to amuse children of all ages, including games, information about Santa, Santa e-mail form, and Santa snack tracker.

For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), has tracked Santa. It all began on Christmas Eve in 1955 after a Colorado Springs Sears Roebuck & Co. store advertisement for children to call Santa listed the wrong telephone number. Instead of Santa, the phone rang through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief’s operations “hotline.” The CONAD staff checked the radar for any indication of Santa and gave children an update on Santa’s location throughout Christmas Eve.

In 1958, Canada and the United States created a bi-national air defense command for the North American continent called the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), which inherited the job of tracking Santa. The NORAD Tracks Santa Program is managed by the NORAD and the United States Northern Command Public Affairs Office at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.

For more information on the Space Foundation’s Space Certification Program, visit www.SpaceConnection.org.