For the first time since WWII Germany is expressing an interest in an independent space project. The current German plan is to send an orbiter to the moon by 2013 to photograph the surface and create a lunar atlas. Germany also plans to send a soil sampler to the moon by 2020. The Lunar Exploration Orbiter project is being underwritten by proposed funding of 300 million Euros.

The project to map the surface of the moon sounds like the Change'I project from China. I believe that a similar project has also been proposed by Japan.

This is the first time that Germany will have launched an independent space mission since the V2 rocket became the first rocket in space in 1942.
Wernher von Braun was key in developing the V2 rocket. Later, he moved to the US and helped develop our space and ballistic missile technologies. Wernher von Braun was also one of the founding members of The National Space Institute, which became the National Space Society along with the remnants of L5. Which, oddly enough I had done some research into yesterday.

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