... Shuttle Plume Shadow Points to the Moon . ... Credit Copyright: Pat McCracken, NASA Explanation: Why would the shadow of a space shuttle launch plume point toward the Moon? In early 2001 during a launch of Atlantis , the Sun, Earth , Moon , and rocket were all properly aligned for this photogenic coincidence . First, for the space shuttle 's plume to cast a long shadow, the time of day must be either near sunrise or sunset . ... Publications with keywords: space shuttle - Moon - shadow . ...