(PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo.) — A hangar at Peterson Space Force Base (SFB) will transform into the world-famous NORAD Tracks Santa operation center on Wednesday, Dec. 18.

With just over a week to go until the Big Man in Red takes to the sky with his team of reindeer, the North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) Command team is preparing to track his movements on Christmas Eve using the most advanced technology at its disposal.

The NORAD Tracks Santa program started in 1955 when a young child called the combat operations center at Continental Air Defense Command in Colorado Springs, asking to speak to Santa Claus. A local advertisement misprinted the phone number for a Santa hotline, and calls reached the unlisted operations center instead.

The Air Force colonel who answered the phone realized the mistake and, not wanting to let down the child, gave the order to the watch floor to start tracking Santa and answer the children’s calls accordingly. NORAD absorbed CONAD’s mission a few years later and has kept the holiday tradition going for 69 years.

NORAD Tracks Santa moved into Hangar 123 at Peterson SFB in 2023. The hangar was one of two potential locations for the new call center when the Santa tracking team began looking for a new home in early 2023. Ultimately, the amount of space available in the deployment hangar’s briefing room and available parking for volunteers and staff made it a logical choice.

Hangar 123 serves to provide the call center’s volunteers and staff with an operational base befitting of such an important mission–keeping an eye on Santa as he moves across the globe, bringing presents and holiday spirit.