MOSOCOW, Dec 24: Santa Claus embarked on his 68th world tour on Sunday to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and present gifts to children, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said.
“And Santa is off!!! He is headed to the Space Station!” NORAD said on X.
At around 11:06 GMT, Santa flew over the village of Uelen in Russia’s Chukotka Autonomous Area, then he visited the village of Lavrentiya in the same area. Next, the wizard traveled to the cities of Anadyr and Magadan. At 11:23 GMT, Santa flew over the village of Esso in Russia’s Kamchatka Territory.
The number of gifts given by Santa is currently approaching 140 million.
Tradition says Santa’s sleigh is pulled by nine flying reindeer “fueled” by hay, carrots and oatmeal. The length of the sleigh is 75 sugar sticks or 150 candies, the width is 40 sticks or 80 candies. The height of the sleigh is also measured in candies. It is equivalent to 55 sugar sticks or 110 candies. The weight of the sleigh at the moment of take-off is 75,000 jelly candies. The maximum speed of the sleigh exceeds the speed of starlight.
The NORAD Tracks Santa project was launched in 1955, when one of the major stores in the US state of Colorado placed an advertisement urging children to call Santa Claus by phone. However, the phone number in the advertisement was written wrong, and the calls were coming in to the hotline of the Continental Air Defense Command (CORAD), the predecessor of NORAD, instead of Santa Claus.
Since then, an air force base in Colorado has monitored Santa’s Christmas journey every year. To quickly track the trip of the wizard, NORAD uses four control systems, namely satellites, radar, fighter jets and special Santa cameras. The radars are guided by a shimmering red nose of Rudolph the Reindeer, the leader of Santa’s reindeer team. (UNI)
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