300-Foot Telescope Collapse

At 9:43 p.m. EST on Tuesday the 15th of November 1988, the 300-foot telescope in Green Bank collapsed.

The loss of the 300-Foot telescope resulted in the Green Bank Telescope Project.

https://www.nrao.edu/whatisra/hist_300ft.shtml

At 9:43 p.m. EST on Tuesday the 15th of November 1988, the 300-foot telescope in Green Bank collapsed. The collapse was due to the sudden failure of a key structural element — a large gusset plate in the box girder assembly that formed the main support for the antenna.

Read about the history in the book:
“But it was Fun: the first 40 years of radio astronomy at Green Bank.”