Short answers, pulled from the story.
Sesame Street was officially announced at a press conference on the 6th of May 1969 by Joan Ganz Cooney. Cooney stated that the name Sesame Street came from the saying open sesame, which gives the idea of a place where exciting things occur.
Television producer Joan Ganz Cooney and foundation vice president Lloyd Morrisett founded Sesame Street in 1966. Their goal was to help young children prepare for school, particularly those from low-income families who did not traditionally watch educational programs.
The program premiered on public television stations on the 10th of November 1969. At first, its street scenes consisted of character-driven interactions written as individual, curriculum-based segments interrupted by inserts of puppet sketches, short films and animations.
Sesame Street addressed real-life issues such as the death of Will Lee and the September 11 terrorist attacks. The show's creators formulated cognitive and affective goals to increase children's self-esteem and feelings of competency by featuring themes of social competence and tolerance of diversity in interpersonal disputes.
Starting in 2014, during the show's 45th season, the producers introduced a half-hour version of the program. In 2017, the show's producers retired the full-hour version across all its broadcast platforms in response to the changing viewing habits of toddlers.
By its 50th anniversary in 2019, 190 million children viewed over 160 versions of Sesame Street in 70 languages. By 2006, there were twenty co-productions around the world, and by 2001 there were over 120 million viewers of all international versions of Sesame Street.