Per aspera ad astra

Per aspera ad astra or Ad astra per aspera is a Latin phrase which means either "Through hardships to the stars", "A rough road leads to the stars" or "To the stars through difficulties". The phrase is one of many Latin sayings which use the expression Ad astra.

Various organizations and groups use this expression and its variants.

• Literature
  • In Hermann Hesse's Beneath the Wheel, the headmaster of Maulbronn says this to Lucius for his futile efforts towards music.
  • Title of a play depicting the history of the fictional Maycomb County in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, in which the translation is given as from the mud to the stars.

• Schools and Institutions:
  • Motto of Immaculate Conception High School, St. Andrew, Jamaica
  • Motto of Prva Gimnazija Maribor, SLO
  • Motto of Dr. Challoner's Grammar School, Amersham, Buckinghamshire
  • Motto of St Patrick's High School, Karachi, Pakistan, one of the oldest institutions in Pakistan.
  • Motto of Colfe's School, UK.
  • Motto of Mayfield Grammar School, UK
  • Motto of Campbell University, Buies Creek, NC
  • Motto of Woodville High School, Adelaide, South Australia
  • Motto of Rotorua Boys High School, New Zealand.
  • Motto of Lake View High School, Chicago, United States
  • Motto of Macopin Middle School, West Milford, Nj
  • Motto of University High School (Fresno), California, United States
  • Motto of Cornelia Strong College, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, North Carolina, United States
  • Motto of St. Paul's Girls' School, Milagiriya, Colombo District, Western Province, Sri Lanka
  • Unofficial motto of Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies of Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia
  • Motto of MNDF Fire and Rescue Services Training School, K.Viligili, Maldives

• Political entities:
  • State of Kansas (Ad astra per aspera)^[1]
  • Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin^[2]
  • City of Gouda, Netherlands^{[citation needed]}
  • City of Embu-Guaçu, Brazil
  • Town of Coalhurst, Alberta

• Military and Government:
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration^[3]
  • Spanish Air Force
  • South African Air Force^[4]
  • Military Technical Academy in Bucharest, Romania ^[5]
  • Quinto Grupo de Caza (5th Fighter Squadron) – Argentine Air Force
  • Department of Civil Aviation (Thailand)^[6]
  • Trenton Air Cadet Training Centre in Trenton,Canada

• Education and research:
  • Colegiul National "Andrei Saguna" Brasov – PER ASPERA AD ASTRA^[7]
  • Pietersburg Hoerskool (Per aspera ad astra)^[8]
  • Trinity Prep in Winter Park, FL ^[9]
  • California State University East Bay ^[10]
  • Stevens Institute of Technology^[11]
  • Campbell University (Ad astra per aspera)^[12]
  • Greenhill School in Dallas, Texas^[13]
  • Albury High School (Ad Astra per aspera) ^[14]
  • Dr Challoner's Grammar School (Ad astra per aspera)
  • University High School in Fresno, California (Ad astra per aspera)
  • Gravesend Grammar School for Girls (Kent, UK)
  • Escuela Nacional de Música (Tegucigalpa, Honduras)
  • Immaculate Conception High School for Girls (Jamaica)
  • Alexandru Papiu Ilarian High School^[15] in Targu-Mures, Romania
  • Andrei Mureșanu High School^[16] in Bistrița, Romania
  • The Mirman School, Los Angeles, CA (Ad Astra per aspera): www.mirman.org
  • University of Tennessee Space Institute
  • Keila-Joa Boarding School in Türisalu, Estonia (Per aspera ad astra..)^[17]
  • St. Paul's Girl's School, Milagiriya, Sri Lanka (Per aspera ad astra)
  • Rotorua Boys' High School in Rotorua, New Zealand ("Ad astra per aspera")
  • Mount Saint Michael Academy in Bronx, New York
  • Miami Central High School in Miami, Florida ("Ad astra per aspera")
  • Stavanger Cathedral School a Norwegian upper secondary school in Stavanger, Norway ("Per aspera ad astra", and to a lesser extent "per ardua ad astra").

• Fraternities and sororities:
  • Beta Sigma Psi National Lutheran Fraternity^[18]
  • Sigma Gamma Phi – Arethusa Sorority^{[citation needed]}
  • Korp! Amicitia – Estonian student sorority.

• Popular culture:
  • Rip Torn says this phrase to David Bowie in the film "The Man Who Fell to Earth".
  • Tomo Milicevic, of the band 30 Seconds to Mars, has a tattoo on his right forearm reading 'per aspera et astra', with the band's logo in the background in red.
  • Popular Filipino comic writer Pol Medina, Jr. of Pugad Baboy fame^{[citation needed]}
  • Aspera! Per aspera! Per ardua! Ad astra! is the refrain of the song "Aspera" by Erin McKeown on the album We Will Become Like Birds.
  • At the end of the credits of a Half-Life 2 mod called Riot Act^{[citation needed]}
  • Said by Neil Patrick Harris in episode 18, season 4 of the TV show, Doogie Howser, M.D.
  • Title of a play depicting the history of the fictional Maycomb County in To Kill a Mockingbird, in which the translation is given as from the mud to the stars.
  • Title of a song by Haggard, from the album Eppur Si Muove.
  • The name of an album by Abandon Kansas.
  • A line from the song "On Thin Ice" by Evereve, from the album Tried and Failed.
  • It is one of many hidden messages in the 2009 video game The Conduit.
  • Motto of the Martian Imperial Commandos in Kurt Vonnegut novel, The Sirens of Titan.
  • Title of a song by Seattle based band Acceptance.
  • Title of a song by Goasia, appearing on the album From Other Spaces (Suntrip records, 2007)
  • Appears on Right side shoulder patch in Star Trek Enterprise; on the "newer" uniform style shown on the series finale.
  • The name of an album by Stars of the Lid
  • The official motto of Solforce in the videogame Sword of the Stars.
  • Title of a song by the band Spiritual Beggars from their album Ad Astra.
  • Title of a song by the band Die Apokalyptischen Reiter from their album Samurai.
• Others:
  • The quote from Battlefield Bad Company 2
  • A plaque honoring the astronauts of Apollo 1 at the launch site where they perished.
  • Inscribed on the crest of Pall Mall cigarettes packages^[19]
  • The final mission (Chapter 15) in Mafia II
  • The theme of "POR CC XXI" by Kolese Kanisius Jakarta

Variants

• Per ardua ad astra ("Through adversity to the Stars")

References