Per aspera ad astra

"Per aspera ad astra", from Finland in the Nineteenth Century, 1894

Per aspera ad astra (or, less commonly, ad astra per aspera) is a popular Latin phrase meaning "through hardships to the stars".

The phrase is one of the many Latin sayings that use the expression ad astra, meaning "to the stars".

Uses

Various organizations and groups use this expression and its variants.

Governmental entities

• City of Embu-Guaçu, Brazil
• City of Gouda, Netherlands (Wapen van Gouda)
• Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin^[1]
• State of Kansas (Ad astra per aspera)^[2]
• Town of Coalhurst, Alberta
• Town of Roxboro, Quebec

Military and government

• Department of Civil Aviation, Thailand^[3]
• Military Technical Academy in Bucharest, Romania^[4]
• National Defence Academy of Latvia
• Navy Special Warfare Group, EAM, United States-ST10-1X0C
• Quinto Grupo de Caza (5th Fighter Squadron), Argentine Air Force
• Royal Canadian Air Force
• South African Air Force^[5]
• Spanish Air Force
• Trenton Air Cadet Training Centre in Trenton, Ontario, Canada

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.
• In James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the dean of studies of Trinity College, Dublin, uses this phrase with Stephen Dedalus when discussing whether or not Stephen will eventually show enough artistic talent to provide the college an answer to the "esthetic question".
• In Kurt Vonnegut's The Sirens of Titan, it is the motto of the Martian Imperial Commandos.
• In Alan Moore's Watchmen, it is the motto of the Gila Flats Test Facility.
• In Steven Gould's Exo, Cent says this to Cory, who responds with "maxime asperum".
• In Alex Hirsch' Gravity Falls Journal no. 3. Written on one of the very first pages of the in 2016 published book as addition to the popular tv-series 'Gravity Falls'.

Music

• The subtitle of Moritz Moszkowski's set of fifteen Études de Virtuosité for piano, op. 72 (published 1903).
• The subtitle of Charles Villiers Stanford's Piano Trio No. 3, Op. 158 (1918).
• The title of the fourth album by ambient music duo Stars of the Lid (1998).
• The subtitle of Sergei Bortkiewicz's 3rd piano concerto (1927).
• The title of a song by Haggard (band) from their album "Eppur Si Muove" (2004).
• Acceptance has an instrumental track on their Phantoms album titled "Ad Astra Per Aspera" (2005).
• The title of the second album by Abandon Kansas (2011).
• "Per Aspera Ad Aspera", the name of a best-of album by the band ASP (2014).

Educational and research institutions

Botswana

• St. Joseph's College, Kgale

United States

• California State University East Bay, Hayward, California^[6]
• Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina^[7]
• Cornelia Strong College, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, North Carolina
• East Hampton High School, East Hampton, CT
• Greenhill School, Dallas, Texas^[8]
• Kansas State Seal, State of Kansas
• Saint Joseph Academy, Brownsville, Texas
• Lake View High School, Chicago, Illinois
• Lyndon Institute, Lyndon Center, Vermont
• Macopin Middle School, West Milford, New Jersey
• Miami Central High School, Miami, Florida
• Midwood High School, Brooklyn, NY
• Mirman School, Los Angeles, California
• Morristown-Beard School, Morristown, New Jersey
• Mount Saint Michael Academy, Bronx, New York
• Satellite High School, Satellite Beach, Florida
• Seven Lakes High School, Katy, Texas
• Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey^[9]
• Trinity Prep, Winter Park, Florida^[10]
• University High School, Fresno, California
• University of Tennessee Space Institute, Tullahoma, Tennessee

United Kingdom

• Colfe's School, Greenwich, London
• Mayfield Grammar School, Gravesend, Kent
• Dr. Challoner's Grammar School, Amersham, Buckinghamshire

Australia

• Queenwood School for Girls, Mosman NSW
• Woodville High School, Adelaide
• Albury High School, Albury, New South Wales^[11]
• Girton Grammar School, Bendigo, Victoria

Austria

• Universität Klagenfurt

Ecuador

• Instituto Nacional Mejía,Quito, Ecuador

Estonia

• Keila-Joa Boarding School, Türisalu^[12]
• Jakob Westholm Secondary School, Tallinn^[13]

Honduras

• Escuela Nacional de Música, Tegucigalpa
• Instituto Salesiano San Miguel, Tegucigalpa

India

• Clarence High School, Bangalore, Karnataka, India - Motto of Redwood House (Ad Astra)
• St.Augustine's High School, kalimpong, District:Darjeeling, India
• Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), New Delhi, India
• The Frank Anthony Public School,Kolkata,India
• The Frank Anthony Public School, Delhi, India - Motto of Ranger House
• St Joseph's High School, Dharwad, Karnataka, India
• Antonio D'souza High School, Mumbai, India

Jamaica

• Immaculate Conception High School, St. Andrew
• Mount Alvernia High School, Montego Bay

Japan

• St. Francis Church, Tokyo, West-Hachioji, Gnosis Essene (HP)

Maldives

• MNDF Fire and Rescue Services Training School, K.Viligili

Macau SAR, China

• Postgraduate Association of University of Macau, Macau, China

New Zealand

• Rotorua Boys' High School, Rotorua

Norway

• Stavanger Cathedral School, Stavanger
• Sortland videregående skole, Nordland

Nigeria

• Ilupeju College, Ilupeju, Lagos
• Lagos Secondary Commercial Academy, LASCA
• Kalabari National College, Buguma, Rivers State

Pakistan

• St Patrick's High School, Karachi

Philippines

• Far Eastern University - Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation, Quezon City, NCR
• St. John Paul II College of Davao, Davao City.

Romania

• Mihai Eminescu High School,^[14] Suceava
• Colegiul National "Andrei Saguna" Brasov^[15]
• Colegiul National "Doamna Stanca" Fagaras^[16]
• Alexandru Papiu Ilarian High School,^[17] Targu-Mures
• Andrei Mureşanu High School,^[18] Bistrița
• Márton Áron Gimnázium, Csíkszereda (Liceul Teoretic "Márton Áron", Miercurea-Ciuc)
• Ovidius High School,^[19] Constanta

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

• Saint Vincent Grammar School, Kingstown

Slovakia

• Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies of Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava

Slovenia

• Prva gimnazija Maribor, Maribor
• Gimnazija Jesenice, Jesenice

South Africa

• Pietersburg Hoërskool^[20]

Sri Lanka

• St. Paul's Girls' School, Milagiriya, Colombo District, Western Province

Ukraine

• Space Museum dedicated to Korolyov in Zhytomyr
• Dnipropetrovsk Oblast

Fraternities and sororities

• Beta Sigma Psi National Lutheran Fraternity^[21]
• Sigma Gamma Phi – Arethusa Sorority^[22]
• Korp! Amicitia – Estonian student sorority.
• Freemasons-Knight's Templar, 32nd Degree
• K.Ö.St.V. Almgau Salzburg - Austrian Catholic Student Association^[23]
• K.a.V. Danubia Wien-Korneuburg im ÖCV - Austrian Catholic Student Association

Popular culture

• Garrison Keillor routinely references the phrase as the only Latin phrase he cared to remember on A Prairie Home Companion.^[24][25]
• Per aspera ad astra is a Soviet Russian science fiction film by Richard Viktorov, written by Kir Bulychov.
• 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.
• 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.
• American singer, rapper, dancer, actress, and songwriter Kiely Williams has "Per aspera ad astra" tattooed on her right forearm.
• 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.
• The inscription on the chandelier in the 1979 post-apocalyptic ballet The Interpreter of Daydreams
• Title of a song by the band Die Apokalyptischen Reiter from their album Samurai.
• The quote from Battlefield: Bad Company 2
• The final mission (Chapter 15) in the Mafia II video game
• Line in the Answer Page song Sunflower
• In a tattoo piece in The Raven
• The name of an album by Estonian band Põhja-Tallinn
• Phrase has been spoofed slightly by the band Ghost in the song "Per Aspera Ad Inferi" from their album Infestissumam^[26] literally meaning "Through hardships to hell."^[27]
• Used at the end of Bungie's "O Brave New World" vidoc after the final installment of Halo.
• Title of a background music from the Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire video games which plays during a voyage into space.
• In the 2015 film "The Martian," at the end of the film astronaut Mark Watney is giving his first lecture to the Astronaut Candidate Program and the phrase appears embedded in the central floor area of the lecture hall around a logo
• In Bioware's Mass Effect 3, this phrase is set in the middle of the wall of names dedicated to the fallen crew members of the main ship, the SSV Normandy.
• Found in the Gravity Falls Journal #3 penned on the inside title page.
• Title of character leveling achievements in Mistwalker's mobile game "Terra Battle"

Others

• A plaque honoring the astronauts of Apollo 1 at the launch site where they perished.
• Inscribed on the crest of Pall Mall cigarettes packages^[28]
• The theme of "POR CC XXI" by Kolese Kanisius Jakarta
• Tradewinds Swiss^[29]
• Space Development Network^[30]
• Part three of the book "Jepp who Defied the Stars" by Katherine Marsh has the phrase as its title.^[31]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Per aspera ad astra.

• Per ardua ad astra ("Through adversity to the stars")
  • Per ardua ad astra, additional uses with reference to above article
• Ad astra per aspera, additional uses
• Per aspera ad astra, references this article

References