On 23 March 2012, an Ariane 5 rocket took off from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana carrying the third European ATV space transporter to the International Space Station (ISS). I had the opportunity to witness the launch on location together with the representatives of other ESA member states, and to discuss future activities in the European space sector. It was an ideal opportunity to prepare the formal agreements for the next few weeks and months leading up to the ESA Ministerial Conference.

As a lunar observer, I am repeatedly asked whether the tracks of the six Apollo missions can be seen through a telescope. After all, the descent stages of the lunar modules, three lunar rovers and a lot of scientific equipment were left behind there. Unfortunately, this is impossible even with the largest ground-based telescopes. But on the Internet, it is possible for everyone to go out and explore.

It all began when Mathias Schindler of Wikimedia Germany contacted us here at the DLR Communications Department in May 2009 with an enquiry regarding the usage rights for DLR image material by Wikipedia and the associated Wikimedia Commons media archive. Here is a brief summary of the telephone conference that followed shortly afterwards – if DLR content, specifically our image material, continues to be associated with traditional ‘all rights reserved’ terms of use, it cannot be used by, for example, Wikipedia. The use of the Creative Commons (CC) licensing model might represent a solution.