Ad astra

Categories: Latin mottos | News magazines | United States magazines

Ad astra (Latin "to the stars") is the motto of University College Dublin. However, since 2005, the phrase no longer appears on the university's crest. It is also found as part of several mottoes, notably those of the Royal Air Force (per ardua ad astra — "Through struggle to the stars"), the state of Kansas (ad astra per aspera — "to the stars through difficulties"), and NASA (per aspera ad astra).

It is also used as the title of the award-winning publication Ad Astra, the official magazine of the National Space Society, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, public membership educational space advocacy organization founded by Dr. Wernher von Braun in 1974.

The phrase may have its origin with Seneca the Younger, who wrote non est ad astra mollis e terris via ("there is no easy way from the earth to the stars"), or possibly from 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).

A related phrase is "ex astris", (Latin, "from the stars"), used frequently in NASA publications and in science fiction as a part of larger phrases. See Ex Astris Scientia.

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