Staff members, who were assessing the amount of damage the collapse had caused, said the downed telescope looked “more like caramel than steel” when they came to inspect the ruins.
Side view of the 300-foot collapse
Other staff members who came to inspect the ruins that morning said the telescope looked “like a big steamship…capsized and the spires sticking up in the air.”
Tight shot of the 300-foot’s damaged panels
Many of the telescope’s panel were bent due to the collapse. There were attempts to try to salvage as many panels as the staff could, however like most of the steel trapped under the wreckage, several panels were broken beyond repair.
Steelworkers Build the 300-foot
In April 1961, the Bristol Steel and Iron Works, Inc. was awarded the contract to build the 300-foot telescope in Green Bank., West Virginia. Here, four steelworkers bolt the corners of the square base that will hold the 300-foot dish.
Astronomers in the 300-foot’s Control Room
The control room of the 300-foot telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia was state-of-the-art back in 1970s.
Inside the 300-foot’s control room
Sunshine streams through the large window into the control room of the 300-foot telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia back in 1972.