WebProNews

Google and NASA have worked next to and with each other for a number of years; I’ve never been bothered by this fact, and I’m not complaining now.  Yet the lines are getting even more blurred as former astronaut Ed Lu has gained a job with the search engine giant.

“Lu, who has a doctorate in astrophysics from Stanford University and a strong background in the academic research environment, will have a lot to offer to GoogleSky as well as to GoogleScholar and GoogleBooks,” writes Loretta Whitesides in an article for Wired.

Of course, word of Lu’s new job comes only a week after Sky’s release, and that release was documented on the Offical Google Blog by none other than Sally Ride.

Back to Lu, though.  “He may also play a role in the NASA-Google Space Act Agreement projects, announced in December 2006,” Whitesides continues.  “Lu even has an article published in Nature on his idea for a ‘Gravity Tractor’ mission that could gently pull an asteroid off course over time.”

Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m impressed.  Even as the debate continues in regards to SEO as a form of rocket science, Google seems to have covered its (lunar) bases.