The Eagle has Landed

The Eagle has Landed... is a 6 minute through-composed work for brass quartet written for the 2019 A4 Brass Composition Competition, which it was awarded 2nd place and premiered by the quartet. The composition describes the moments leading up to the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969 commanded by Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin.
 
Millions of people around the world viewed the launch of Apollo 11 on television. The launch was a global event. About two hours after leaving Earth the Lunar Command and Landing Modules separated from the main rocket. 3 days later the crew entered Lunar Orbit (A day later the Landing section or Apollo Lunar Module separated from the command module. As the descent began, Armstrong and Aldrin found that they were passing landmarks on the surface two or three seconds early, and reported that they were "long"; they would land miles west of their target point. Eagle was traveling too fast, eventually Armstrong found an alternative landing point. During the landing there were several problems with the mission computer and to avoid a crash Armstrong had to take manual control of the landing craft. They eventually landed with only 25 seconds of fuel left. Armstrong acknowledged Aldrin's completion of the post landing checklist with "Engine arm is off", before responding to the CAPCOM, Charles Duke, with the words, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."