NEW YORK Elmo, Sesame Street’s furry red monster, will appear at NASA’s free public event at 10:15 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, Aug. 17, at the Eventi Plaza located behind the hotel on the Avenue of the Americas between 29th and 30th Streets in New York City.

There, Elmo will join the crew of space shuttle Atlantis. Elmo was recently a special guest at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 8 where he saw the liftoff of the final space shuttle mission. NASA is pleased to be working with Sesame Street and focusing on STEM education, encouraging children to think critically about science, technology, engineering and math.

The New York event, titled “What’s Your Favorite Space?,” will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Eventi Plaza will be transformed into a miniature space outpost filled with displays including: an inflatable Mars rover; demonstrations; interactive exhibits; video segments; children’s activities and more.

NASA has begun a reinvigorated exploration, innovation and technology development program that promises to lead humans and robots to an array of challenging destinations. Preview those destinations at the Eventi Hotel through the eyes of the Hubble Space Telescope and the scientific satellites that are the precursors to journeys beyond low-Earth orbit and into deep space.

For more information on NASA’s future exploration efforts, visit: www.nasa.gov/next

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter