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For other uses, see Ad astra.

Ad astra is a Latin phrase meaning "to the stars". The phrase has its origin with Virgil, who wrote sic itur ad astra ("thus you shall go to the stars"; Aeneid book IX, line 641) and opta ardua pennis astra sequi, ("they choose hardship that follow the stars on wings"; book XII, lines 892–893). Seneca the Younger later wrote non est ad astra mollis e terris via ("there is no easy way from the earth to the stars"). The most renown phrase by Seneca the Younger is "per Asperam ad astra" (through difficulties to the stars).

It is used as, or as part of, the motto of many organizations. It has also been adopted as a proper name for various unrelated things (publications, bands, games, etc.). It also sees general use as a popular Latin tag.

• Exact motto
  • Salesian Institute San Miguel, Honduras
  • Innova Junior College, Singapore
  • Ardrossan Academy, Scotland
  • Miami Central High School, United States
  • Presbyterian Ladies' College, Armidale, Australia
  • Ruamrudee International School, Thailand
  • Slough Grammar School in Berkshire, England
  • United States Air Force Academy Class of 2007
  • University College Dublin, Ireland
• per ardua ad astra — "through struggles to the stars"
  • Royal Air Force — translated slightly differently as "Through Adversity to the Stars"
  • Royal Australian Air Force
  • Royal Canadian Air Force
  • Trondheim katedralskole, cathedral school in Trondheim, Norway
• ad astra per aspera — "to the stars through difficulties"
  • Albury High School in Albury, New South Wales, Australia
  • Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina
  • Coventry High School, Coventry, Rhode Island
  • Dr Challoner's Grammar School in Buckinghamshire, England
  • Grupo 5 de Caza, a fighter/bomber squadron of the Fuerza Aerea Argentina (Argentine Air Force)
  • Trenton air cadet training centre, Canada
  • Kansas (U.S. state) and Seal of Kansas
  • Mount Saint Michael Academy in The Bronx, New York
  • Starfleet, the fictional organization in the Star Trek universe.
  • Half-Life 2: Riot Act, a Half-Life 2 mod by Germano Guerrini
• per aspera ad astra — "through adversity to the stars" or sometimes even "a rough road leads to the stars"
  • California State University, East Bay, California State University
  • Cornelia Strong College, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  • Gouda, a city in The Netherlands
  • Nuriootpa High School, Barossa Valley, South Australia
  • Pall Mall (cigarette)
  • Queenwood School for Girls, Sydney, Australia
  • Saint Patrick's High School, Karachi
  • Hardwald High School, Olten Switzerland
  • The 6th Company/II Batallion of The Danish Royal Guard
  • South African Air Force
  • Stevens Institute of Technology
• Sic itur ad astra — "thus one goes to the stars"
  • Detroit, Michigan public schools
  • Richmond, Virginia (city)
  • Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • The Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania
  • Colombian Air Force
• Ad astra per alia porci — "to the stars on the wings of a pig"
  • Motto on John Steinbeck's personal stamp, featuring a figure of the Pigasus

Newmarket Upper School

• Ad Astra Aero was the precursor of the now-defunct Swissair airline
• Ad Astra Per Aspera is an experimental indie rock band from Lawrence, Kansas, on Sonic Unyon Records
• "Ad Astra Per Aspera" is a song by the band Acceptance, from the album Phantoms
• "Per Aspera Ad Astra" is track six of Spiritual Beggars' CD Ad Astra
• "Per Aspera Ad Astra" is a song by Die Apokalyptischen Reiter from their Album Samurai
• "Ad Astra" is a song by the band Arcturus, from the album La Masquerade Infernale
• "Per Aspera Ad Astra" is a song by the band Haggard, from the album Eppur Si Muove

"Aspera, per aspera, per ardua, ad astra" is the refrain of singer Erin Mckeown's song "Aspera" on the album We Will Become Like Birds.

• Deceased members of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity are regularly referred to as having "passed ad astra"^{[citation needed]}

• In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the pageant composed by Miss Grace Merriweather is named "Ad Astra Per Aspera".

• On the Voyager Golden Record "ad astra per aspera" is repeated twice in Morse Code.

• El Filibusterismo, the novel by Jose Rizal, opens the first chapter with the epigraph "Sic itur ad astra".

A related phrase, ex astris ("from the stars"), is used frequently in NASA publications and in science fiction. See Ex astris, scientia.

• History of the RAF motto (but note that this page misspells sic itur)
• Royal Canadian Air Force Website